Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T07:44:54.091Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Boundaryless Careers and Employability Obligations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Harry J. Van Buren III
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Boundaryless careers may be beneficial to people with rare and valuable skills, but might prove harmful to many others. The idea of employability as an ethical responsibility of employers to employees is introduced; it is argued that attention to employability in private practice and public policy partially resolves the ethical problems inherent to in boundaryless careers. Because employability programs are considered to be voluntary, some means of holding employers accountable for such responsibilities needs to be considered when discussing boundaryless careers. Implications for practice and public policy are also discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 2003 , pp. 131 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aaronson, D., and Sullivan, D. G. 1998. “The Decline of Job Security in the 1990s: Displacement, Anxiety, and Their Effect on Wage Growth.” Economic Perspectives 22: 17–43.Google Scholar
Arcady, A. T., and Mellors, F. 2000. “Cash Balance Conversions.” Journal of Accountancy 189(2): 22–28.Google Scholar
Arthur, M. B. E. 1994. “The Boundaryless Career.” Special Issue: Journal of Organizational Behavior.Google Scholar
Arthur, M. B., Hall, D. T., and Lawrence, B. S. 1989. Handbook of Career Theory. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Arthur, M. B., Inkson, K., and Pringle, J. K. 1999. The New Careers: Individual Action and Economic Change. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Arthur, M. B., and Rousseau, D. M. 1996. “Introduction: The Boundaryless Career as a New Employment Principle.” In Arthur, M. B. and Rousseau, D. M., eds. The Boundaryless Career: A New Employment Principle for a New Organizational Era, 3–20. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bernhardt, A., and Marcotte, D. E. 2000. “Is Standard Employment Still What It Used To Be?” In Carre, F., Ferber, M. A., Golden, L., and Herzenberg, S. A., eds. Nonstandard Work: The Nature and Challenges of Changing Employment Relationships, 21–40. Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR/Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Blair, M. M. 1995. “Corporate ‘Ownership.’” The Brookings Review 13: 16–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boatright, J. R. 1994. “Fiduciary Duties and the Shareholder-Management Relationship: Or, What’s so Special about Shareholders?” Business Ethics Quarterly 4: 393–407.Google Scholar
Burton, B. K., and Dunn, C. P. 1996. “Collaborative Control and the Commons: SafeGuarding Employee Rights.” Business Ethics Quarterly 6: 277–288.Google Scholar
Cappelli, P., ed. 1999. Employment Practices and Business Strategy. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cascio, W. F., Young, C. E., and Morris, J. R. 1997. “Financial Consequences of Employment-Change Decisions in Major U.S. Corporations.” Academy of Management Journal 40: 1175–1189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohany, S. R., Hipple, S. F., Nardone, T. J., Polivka, A. E., and Stewart, J. C. 1998. “Counting the Workers: Results of a First Survey.” In Barker, K. and Christensen, K., eds. Contingent Work: American Employment Relations in Transition, 41–68. Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T., and Preston, L. E. 1995. “The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications.” Academy of Management Review 20: 65–91.Google Scholar
Ehrenreich, B. 2001. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. New York: Metropolitan Books.Google Scholar
Frank, R. H., and Cook, P. J. 1995. The Winner-Take-All Society: How More and More Americans Compete for Ever Fewer and Bigger Prizes, Encouraging Economic Waste, Income Inequality, and an Impoverished Cultural Life. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Freedman, A. 1985. “The New Look in Wage Policy and Employee Relations.” Conference Board Report No. 865. New York: The Conference Board.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. B., and Rogers, J. 1999. What Workers Want. Ithaca: N.Y.: ILR/Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E., and Evan, W. M. 1990. “Corporate Governance: A Stakeholder Perspective.” Journal of Behavioral Economics 19: 337–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, R. E., and Reed, D. L. 1983. “Stockholders and Stakeholders: A New Perspective on Corporate Governance.” California Management Review 25(3): 83–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, L. M. 1985. A History of American Law. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Ghoshal, S., Moran, P., and Bartlett, C. A. 1996. “Employment Security, Employability, and Sustainable Competitive Advantage.” Paper presented at the 1996 Academy of Management annual meeting, Cincinnati, Ohio.Google Scholar
Heshizer, B. 1985. “The New Common Law of Employment: Changes in the Concept of Employment-at-Will.” Labor Law Journal 36: 90–98Google Scholar
Kanter, R. M. 1989. When Giants Learn to Dance: Mastering the Changes of Strategy, Management, and Careers in the 1990s. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Keim, G. D. 1978. “Corporate Social Responsibility: An Assessment of the Enlightened Self-Interest Model.” Academy of Management Review 3: 32–39.Google Scholar
Kochan, T. A. 2000. “Building a New Social Contract at Work: A Call to Action.” Keynote address of the annual meeting of the Industrial Relations Research Association, Boston.Google Scholar
Langtry, B. 1994. “Stakeholders and the Moral Responsibilities of Business.” Business Ethics Quarterly 4: 431–443.Google Scholar
Lansing, P. A., and Van Buren, H. J. III 1993. “Downsizing: Is there an Ethical Dimension to a Partial Plant Closing?” Labor Law Journal 44: 697–706.Google Scholar
Leana, C. R., and Van Buren, H. J. III 1999. “Organizational Social Capital and Employment Practices.” Academy of Management Review 24: 538–555.Google Scholar
Matusik, S. F., and Hill, C. W. L. 1998. “The Utilization of Contingent Work, Knowledge Creation, and Competitive Advantage.” Academy of Management Review 23: 680–697.Google Scholar
McCall, J. 2001. “Employee Voice in Corporate Governance: A Defense of Strong Employee Rights.” Business Ethics Quarterly 11: 195–213.Google Scholar
Meyer, G. J. 1996. Executive Blues: Down and Out in Corporate America. New York: Franklin Square Press.Google Scholar
Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., and Wood, D. J. 1997. “Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of Who and What Really Counts.” Academy of Management Review 22: 853–886.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neumark, D., Polsky, D., and Hansen, D. 1999. “Has Job Stability Declined Yet? New Evidence for the 1990s.” Journal of Labor Economics 17: s29–s64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The New York Times Special Report. 1996. The Downsizing of America. New York: Times Books.Google Scholar
Perrow, C. 1996. “The Bounded Career and the Demise of Civil Society.” In Arthur, M. B. and Rousseau, D. M., eds. The Boundaryless Career: A New Employment Principle for a New Organizational Era, 297–313. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pfeffer, J. 1998. The Human Equation. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Pfeffer, J. 2000a. “Labor Market Flexibility: Do Companies Really Know Best?” Stanford University Graduate School of Business Research Paper No. 1592.Google Scholar
Pfeffer, J. 2000b. “Governance of the Employment Relationship: From Rhetoric to Public Policy.” In Leana, C. R. and Rousseau, D. M., eds. Relational Wealth: The Advantages of Stability in a Changing Economy, 247–260. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Phillips, R. 1997. “Stakeholder Theory and a Principle of Fairness.” Business Ethics Quarterly 7: 51–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quinn, D. P., and Jones, T. M. 1995. “An Agent Morality View of Business Policy.” Academy of Management Review 20: 22–42.Google Scholar
Radin, T. J., and Werhane, P. H. 1996. “Reengineering the American Workplace: Employment-at-Will, Due Process, and the Public/Private Distinction.” Paper presented at the 1996 Society for Business Ethics meeting, Quebec City.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 2001. Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, C. B., and Wiens-Tuers, B. A. 2000. “Access, Choices, and Employee Income: A Comparison of Health Insurance Coverage for Standard and Nonstandard Workers.” Journal of Economic Issues 34: 499–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, J. K. 2000. Temps: The Many Faces of the Changing Employment Relationship. Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR/Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D. M. 1995. Psychological Contracts in Organizations. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Saxenian, A. 1990. “Regional Networks and the Resurgence of Silicon Valley.” California Management Review 33: 89–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saxenian, A. 1994. Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Saxenian, A. 1996. “Beyond Boundaries: Open Labor Markets and Learning in Silicon Valley. In Arthur, M. B. and Rousseau, D. M., eds. The Boundaryless Career: A New Employment Principle for a New Organizational Era, 23–39. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schlossberger, E. 1994. “A New Model of Business: Dual-Investor Theory.” Business Ethics Quarterly 4: 459–473.Google Scholar
Schultz, E. E. 2000. “Companies Reduce Contributions to Employee 401(k) Savings Plans. Wall Street Journal, June 20: A1, A6.Google Scholar
Sennett, R. 1998. The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Stiglitz, J. 2000. “Democratic Development as the Fruits of Labor.” Keynote address of the annual meeting of the Industrial Relations Research Association, Boston.Google Scholar
Van Buren, H. J. III 1999. “If fairness Is the Problem, Is Consent the Solution? Integrating ISCT and Stakeholder Theory.” In Havlovic, S., ed. Best Paper Proceedings of the 1999 Academy of Management, C1–C6.Google Scholar
Van Buren, H. J. III 2000. “The Bindingness of Social and Psychological Contracts: Toward a Theory of Social Responsibility in Downsizing.” Journal of Business Ethics 25: 205–219.Google Scholar
Wallulis, J. 1998. The New Insecurity: The End of the Standard Job and Family. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Waterman, R. H., Waterman, J. A., and Collard, B. 1994. “Toward a Career-Resilient Workforce.” Harvard Business Review 94: 87–95.Google Scholar
Wood, D. J. 1991. “Corporate Social Responsibility Revisited.” Academy of Management Review 16: 691–718.Google Scholar