From Career Development to Career Management: A Positive Prevention Perspective

Abstract

In the current post-modern era the workplace is characterised by many changes and transitions. Individuals experience instability and insecurity in a fluid and flexible scenario. In this framework there is a shift from career development to career management and life management along with the contribution to career management through self-management. The chapter firstly delineates the career theories in the twentieth century in relation to career development. Then the career theories for the twenty-first century are introduced emphasising the perspective of career and life management. A positive prevention perspective is presented that underlines a framework focusing on strengthening resources through early interventions. New axes of reflection to enlarge theoretical and intervention perspectives are shown: Purposeful Identitarian Awareness and the Positive Self & Relational Management (PS&RM). Furthermore the chapter introduces positive career outcomes (resilience, career decision-making self-efficacy, and employability) and presents a brief review regarding their antecedents. The contribution also highlights positive preventive resources for career management in the twenty-first century: intrapreneurial self-capital, acceptance of change, positive relational management; and workplace relational civility. The chapter thus shows the potentialities of this positive prevention perspective for career and life management for research and intervention in the twenty-first century.