Career anchor

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Career anchor ( English career anchor ) is a combination of personal skills (talent), motives and values that form the core of a personality represent ( "real self") and shape the professional development decisive. In a long-term study (since 1961), Edgar Schein researched the actual professional development of graduates of the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and found eight career opportunities (career anchors). These career anchors can be found in many professions - from managers to doctors, lawyers, consultants, police officers and employees in production. A version applicable to German culture was developed and validated at the Institute for Management Innovation.

Background: changing values ​​and demographic development

The change in values ​​in the new generations and the demographic development bring to the fore the question of how companies (and other organizations) can increase their attractiveness for high-performing and talented employees, and how these employees should be promoted, motivated and retained in a meaningful way. Incentives offered by the traditional hierarchical “career” are becoming less and less important. At the same time, the number of management positions is decreasing with flat hierarchies. This leads to the question of which perspectives can be offered to the talented and at the same time high-performing employees.

John Holland has a suggestion. Accordingly, in order to be successful, people should choose a career path that suits their interests. Edgar Schein goes one step further and believes that decisions about your professional future are easier and more valid if you have a clear understanding of your own values, skills and personality traits - that is, if you are aware of your career anchor.

Another problem is the widespread practice, on the one hand, of promoting the “best” specialists such as engineers, doctors, salespeople, administrative experts to managers, even though they do not have the necessary prerequisites (leadership skills and personality traits); on the other hand, many employees have a talent for leadership, but are occupied with pure specialist tasks. Such contradictions, which mostly come about through external incentives and apparent practical constraints, have a frustrating effect because you perform tasks that do not correspond to your personal skills and values. The feeling of alienation arises: "this is not really me".

The eight career anchors

According to the traditional view, there is also the specialist and project career in addition to the (hierarchical) management career. Edgar Schein's studies have shown that there are eight different career opportunities (career anchors) in practice.

  • Technical / functional competence

People with this career anchor have a strong motivation for tasks of a certain kind. They are outspoken experts (specialists). Examples are tax consultants, specialist lawyers, cardiac surgeons, specialist salespeople, programmers, scientists, craftsmen, financial analysts. They identify with their job. For these people, a career means an increase in specialist knowledge or expertise. You expect recognition and appreciation for your specialist knowledge, which you continuously develop. This appreciation is particularly important when it comes from other experts in the same field.

  • General management competence

This group of people sees specialization as a trap. She wants to coordinate the specialist knowledge of various disciplines and functions and align it to a specific (common) goal (contribution to corporate success). To do this, the representatives of this career anchor must have functional specialist knowledge (procurement, production, sales, marketing) in order to be able to communicate with the functional experts. The priority is not knowledge that is in-depth, but that is broad. Your most important motives and values ​​are design, responsibility, leadership and (social) advancement. The most important skills are analytical reasoning, decision-making power and emotional intelligence.

  • Autonomy / independence

For people with this career anchor, career and further development mean a gain in independence and independence. They find it hard to bear when their boss tells them what to do, sets rules, and decides on their salary or working hours. For them, an organization with established processes, rules of conduct and “regulations” is like a golden cage. Least of all can they stand control from their boss. Representatives of this career anchor are particularly common in the liberal professions as well as in small businesses and crafts.

  • Security / stability

These people attach particular importance to security and predictability of future (professional) development. With increasing age, there is also a desire for financial security. They prefer companies that guarantee lifelong employment and clearly define what specifically needs to be done in order to take a step forward. They reward this security and reliability of the company with a particularly high level of loyalty. With their consistency and reliability, they can develop from "simple" employees to upper management levels.

  • Entrepreneurial creativity

People with this career anchor are obsessed with putting business ideas into practice. This can be new products or services or modifications of existing offers. In order to realize this, they are willing to forego independence. In their eyes, the proverbial money is on the street that you just have to pick up. The main driving force behind these people is possessions and property, which they create with creative ideas and are proud of them.

  • Service orientation / making sense

Through their work, these people want to realize their personal ideals and create something meaningful for other people or for society. Representatives of this career anchor can usually be found in nursing, healing or teaching professions. There are also staff functions in companies such as human resources management, controlling, market research, quality assurance or training and further education. The most important thing is the feeling of doing something useful for other people.

  • Pure challenge

The main drive for this group of people is competition. This can best be compared with athletes who constantly want to compete with others. An example is a climber who takes the greatest risk and effort just because the mountain is there. These people grow with their challenges and prefer problems that no one has solved yet. They can be operational, sporting, artistic, political or financial challenges.

  • lifestyle

The special concern of these people is to integrate personal needs as well as requirements of the job and the family. In addition, there is the ability to create trusting relationships between different people and interest groups. Representatives of this anchor can be found particularly frequently in the diplomatic service, in holding structures in lobbying and in public relations.

literature

  • Anne Field: Speak what Drives Them. Identifying motivations that anchor employees' careers. In: Harvard Business Review, December 2003
  • H. Geißler, T. Sattelberger: Management of valuable relationships . 2003
  • Peter Herriot, Carole Pemberton: Career Management . In: S. Crainer (Ed.): Handbook of Management . London 1995
  • Waldemar Pelz: career anchor in German culture. Results of the study "Careers in Practice" with around 1,200 participants
  • Edgar H. Schein: Career Dynamics: Matching Individual and Organizational Needs . Reading MA 1978
  • Edgar H. Schein: Career Anchors Revisited: Implications for Career Development in the 21st Century . MIT Sloan School of Management, 1996
  • Edgar Schein: Career Anchors. The changing nature of work and careers . San Francisco: Willey 2013

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Edgar Schein: Career Anchors. Discovering your real values . San Diego: Pfeiffer & Company 1993
  2. ↑ Waldemar Pelz: Competent leadership . Wiesbaden: Gabler 2004, p. 56. Updated online chapter (2018) and validation of the German version
  3. ^ P. Herriot, C. Pemberton: Career Management . In: S. Crainer (Ed.): Handbook of Management . London 1995
  4. ^ John Holland: Making Vocational Choices . Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, 1985
  5. ↑ a b Edgar Schein: Career Anchors. Discovering your real values . San Diego: Pfeiffer & Company 1993, p. 1
  6. ↑ Waldemar Pelz: List of strengths and weaknesses (PDF) INSTITUTE FOR MANAGEMENT INNOVATION. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  7. ^ Edgar Schein: Career Anchors. The Changing Nature of Work and Careers . San Francisco: Willea, 2013 and W. Pelz for the validated German version