The experience of personal growth in different career stages: An exploratory study

Sabine Hommelhoff,Cornelia Niessen,Carina Schröder

doi:10.1007/s11613-020-00634-y

Sabine Hommelhoff, Cornelia Niessen + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11613-020-00634-y

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Abstract

We examine whether the experience of personal growth at work changes over the course of one’s career. Interviews with 29 childcare providers revealed that personal growth was felt after mastering challenges. The nature and content of these challenges seemed to vary according to career phase. Early-career individuals considered their daily work challenging. Professionals in the middle of their careers focused more on social conflicts and their resolutions, while professionals at the end of their careers were more likely to see unique, non-routine tasks as challenges. This study suggests that personal growth cannot be fully understood independently of career phase. Implications are discussed.

Highlights

Work is a double-edged sword: It can be a source of hardship and stress, and a source of growth and well-being
To assign the interviewees to the different career phases (Super 1980), we presented a brief description of each career stage in the form of several statements (e.g., “My professional future is full of opportunities and I have the feeling that I can develop in many directions” for the exploration phase; “I am pursuing my professional career and want to be successful in it” for the establishment phase; “I have to be able to manage work and private life in such a way that I do justice to both areas” for the maintenance phase; “Sometimes I think more about my future life outside work, even if it still takes a while” for the decline phase)
We suggest defining personal growth at work as a continuous process or discrete event that involves the experience of positive affect as well as personal, cognitive, and social development

Summary

Introduction

Work is a double-edged sword: It can be a source of hardship and stress, and a source of growth and well-being. Numerous studies have shown that personal growth at work is an important issue for workers in that it is related to increased health and well-being (e.g., Shirom et al 2008), job performance (e.g., Carmeli et al 2009), and innovation (e.g., Carmeli and Spreitzer 2009) It is important for organizations to promote their employees’ personal growth, and for employees to seek and create opportunities for development at work. Over the course of a professional career, workers face different developmental tasks, social expectations, and changing priorities in terms of work and private roles (Super 1980); it is likely that workers experience growth resulting from various events and actions over the course of their careers To address this question, we conducted grounded theorybased interviews (Glaser and Strauss 1967) with childcare providers. It further strives to develop recommendations for practitioners on how to support employees’ personal growth at different career stages

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