Managing the Career Plateau<sup/>

Ference, Thomas P.; Stoner, James A. F.; Warren, Erica

doi:10.5465/amr.1977.4406740

Cited by 204 publications

(117 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Flattened hierarchies mean that there are fewer positions at senior levels, reducing the opportunities for upward movement (Chao 1990;Evans, Gunz and Jalland 1997;Burke 2002). More employees are therefore likely to reach a hierarchical plateau, a point where the probability of vertical advancement is very low (Ference, Stoner and Warren 1977). Unless they are willing to look outside their present organization and venture out on the external labour market, these employees will probably have to remain in the same position for longer, with the inherent risk of languishing on a content plateau where their work no longer offers them any opportunities or challenges (Bardwick 1986;McCleese and Eby 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The relationship between career plateauing, employee commitment and psychological distress: the role of organizational and supervisor support

Lapalme

Tremblay

Simard

2009

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

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This research examines the role played by an employee's supervisor and organization in the relationship between structural and content plateauing, affective commitment to the organization, and psychological distress. Our analyses, based on data taken from a sample of 575 hospital employees, reveal that there is a significant relationship between the two forms of plateauing and perceived supervisor support, whereas only hierarchical plateauing is related to perceived organizational support. Our results also highlight the mediating effect of perceived organizational support in the relationship between hierarchical plateauing, perceived supervisor support, and the consequences examined.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The relationship between career plateauing, employee commitment and psychological distress: the role of organizational and supervisor support

Lapalme

Tremblay

Simard

2009

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Considerable evidence indicates that reaching a career plateau may result in negative consequences, such as decreased job and career satisfaction (Chang, 2003;McCleese & Eby, 2006), reduced organizational commitment (McCleese & Eby, 2006), unsatisfactory performance (Stout, Slocum, & Cron, 1988), and increased intention to quit (Hofstetter & Cohen, 2014). The career plateau was traditionally defined as a point in one's career beyond which promotion becomes highly unlikely (Ference, Stoner, & Warren, 1977), followed by Feldman and Weitz's (1988) extension of the connotation of little likelihood of obtaining assignments of increased responsibility. This traditional view focuses on a hierarchical (or structural) plateau, which concerns employees' vertical movement in the organization (Allen et al, 1999;Bardwick, 1986) and has been dominantly studied in the career plateau literature (ArmstrongStassen, 2008;Xie, Lu, & Zhou, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The relationship between career adaptability and job content plateau: The mediating roles of fit perceptions

Jiang

2016

Journal of Vocational Behavior

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This study is the first to test career adaptability as an antecedent of the job content plateau. Based on career construction theory and person-environment fit theory, it examined the mediating effects of person-job fit and person-organization fit on the relationship between career adaptability and the job content plateau. Results from 270 full time workers showed that employees with higher levels of career adaptability were less likely to experience job content plateaus. Partial mediating effects were found for both person-job fit and personorganization fit. Specifically, career adaptability firstly led to increased person-job fit and person-organization fit, which in turn resulted in decreased job content plateaus. Additional analyses showed that the mediating effect of person-job fit was stronger for female than for male employees. This study identified a new antecedent (i.e., career adaptability) of the job content plateau and revealed the functional mechanism underlying the effect of this antecedent. It offers innovative and useful insights for career management practice.

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“…The majority of plateauing research focuses on hierarchical plateaus, which occur when individuals have low perceptions of upward mobility opportunities in the organization (Ference, et al, 1977). However, some researchers (Chao, 1990;Choy and Savery 1998) argue this focus on hierarchical plateaus provides a limited perspective on individuals' career mobility.…”

Section: Existing Research On Plateausmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress, Organizational Citizenship Behaviors, and Coping: Comparisons Among Plateaued and Non-Plateaued Employees

Hurst

Kungu

Flott

2012

BMR

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Hierarchical plateaus occur when employees lack upward mobility, and job content plateaus occur when employees lack challenge or responsibilities in their roles. Results of this study extend research on the outcomes of plateaus by considering stress and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Plateaus were positively related to stress and negatively related to OCBs. We also examined differences in coping strategies by incorporating responses from non-plateaued as well as three groups of plateaued employees. Non-plateaued employees reported higher usage of non-work coping strategies compared to double plateaued employees, and those reporting no hierarchical plateau reported greater use of non-work coping strategies than hierarchically plateaued employees. These results provide some initial insights on how non-plateaued employees might be successfully avoiding plateaus in their careers. Lastly, job involvement and non-work coping strategies were negatively related to stress. Implications of these results for research and practice are also discussed.

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Managing the Career Plateau

Cited by 204 publications

References 7 publications

The relationship between career plateauing, employee commitment and psychological distress: the role of organizational and supervisor support

The relationship between career plateauing, employee commitment and psychological distress: the role of organizational and supervisor support

The relationship between career adaptability and job content plateau: The mediating roles of fit perceptions

Stress, Organizational Citizenship Behaviors, and Coping: Comparisons Among Plateaued and Non-Plateaued Employees

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