The first stage in career evolution is the exploration stage, which occurs at the beginning of a career and is characterized by self-analysis and the exploration of different types of available jobs. Individuals at this stage are generally about 15 to 25 years old and are involved in some type of formal training, such as college or vocational education. They often pursue part-time employment to gain a richer understanding of what a career in a particular organization or industry might be like. Typical jobs held during this stage include cooking at Burger King, stocking at a Federated Department Store, and working as an office assistant at a Nationwide Insurance office.

The second stage in career evolution is the establishment stage, during which individuals about 25 to 45 years old start to become more productive, or higher performers (as Figure 1.8 indicates by the upturn in the dotted line and its continuance as a solid line). Employment sought during this stage is guided by what was learned during the exploration stage. In addition, the jobs sought are usually full-time jobs. Individuals at this stage commonly move to different jobs within the same company, to different companies, or even to different industries.

The third stage in career evolution is the maintenance stage. In this stage, individuals who are 45 to 65 years old show either increased performance (career growth), stabilized performance (career maintenance), or decreased performance (career stagnation).

From the organization’s viewpoint, it is better for managers to experience career growth than maintenance or stagnation. For this reason, some companies such as IBM, Monsanto, and Brooklyn Union Gas have attempted to eliminate career plateauing—defined as a period of little or no apparent progress in a career.³¹

The last stage in career evolution is the decline stage, which involves people about 65 years old whose productivity is declining. These individuals are either close to retirement, semi-retired, or fully retired. People in the decline stage may find it difficult to maintain prior performance levels, perhaps because they have lost interest in their careers or have failed to keep their job skills up to date.

As Americans live longer and stay healthier into late middle age, many of them choose to become part-time workers in businesses, such as Publix supermarkets and McDonald’s or in volunteer groups, such as the March of Dimes and the American Heart Association. Some retired executives put their career experience to good social use by working with the government-sponsored organization Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) to offer management advice and consultation to small businesses trying to gain a foothold in their market.

Women in their roles as managers must meet the same challenges in their work environments as men. However, because they have more recently joined the ranks of management in large numbers, women often lack the social contacts that are so important in the development of a management career. Another problem for women is that, traditionally, they have been expected to manage families and households while simultaneously handling the pressures and competition of paid employment. Finally, women are more likely than men to encounter sexual harassment in the workplace.

Interestingly, some management theorists believe that women may have an enormous advantage over men in future management situations.³⁶ They predict that networks of relationships will replace rigid organizational structures and that star workers will be replaced by teams made up of workers at all levels who are empowered to make decisions. Detailed rules and procedures will be replaced by a flexible system that calls for judgments based on key values and a constant search for new ways to get the job done. Strengths often attributed to women—emphasizing interrelationships, listening, and motivating others—will be the dominant virtues in the corporation of the future.

Despite this optimism, however, some reports indicate that the proportion of men to women in management ranks seems to have changed little in the last 10 years.³⁷ This stabilized proportion can probably be explained by a number of factors. For example, perhaps women are not opting to move into management positions at a greater pace than men because of trade-offs they have to make, such as not having or delaying the birth of a baby. In addition, women often indicate that it’s more difficult for them to move into management positions than men because of the lack of female mentors and role models in the corporate world. Table 1.4 lists seven steps that management can take to help women advance in an organization.³⁸

With an increasing number of dual-career couples, organizations who want to attract and retain the best performers have found it necessary to consider how dual-career couples affect the workforce. Those in dual-career relationships even have a Facebook community devoted to their concerns.³⁹ The traditional scenario in which a woman takes a supporting role in the development of her spouse’s career is being replaced by one of equal work and shared responsibilities of spouses. This arrangement requires a certain amount of flexibility on the part of the couple as well as the organizations for which they work. Today, such burning issues as whose career takes precedence if a spouse is offered a transfer to another city and who takes the ultimate responsibility for family concerns point to the fact that dual-career relationships involve trade-offs and that it is difficult to “have it all.”

Studies of dual-career couples reveal that many cope with their career difficulties in one of the following ways.⁴⁰ The couple might develop a commitment to both spouses’ careers so that when a decision is made, the right of each spouse to pursue a career is taken into consideration. Both spouses are flexible about handling home- and job-oriented issues. They work out coping mechanisms, such as negotiating child care or scheduling shared activities in advance, to better manage their work and their family responsibilities. Often, dual-career couples find that they must limit their social lives and their volunteer responsibilities in order to slow their lives to a manageable pace. Finally, many couples find that they must take steps to consciously facilitate their mutual career advancement. An organization that wants to retain an employee may find that it needs to assist that employee’s spouse in his or her career development as well.