Adaptability is a key competency for career success. In this article, the authors examine how individual adaptability is associated with the accrual of human capital, the organization of the work environment, and the characteristics of individuals. They find that a number of factors are particularly strongly related to personal adaptability: gender, employability, education, and management support. By understanding the variety of factors that are intrinsic to individuals, those that can be developed within individuals, and work environment design, it seems possible to foster the development of personal adaptability in the workplace.
Arthur, M.B., DeFillippi, R.J., & Jones, C. (2001). Project-based learning as the interplay of career and company non-financial capital. Management Learning, 32(1), 99-118.
2.
Arthur, M.B., Khapova, S.N., & Wilderom, C.P.M. (2005). Career success in a boundaryless career world. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26, 177-202.
3.
Arthur, M.B., & Rousseau, D.M. (1996). The boundaryless career: A new employment principle for a new organizational era. New York: Oxford University Press.
4.
Ayres, J.S., & Potter, H.R. (1989). Attitudes toward community change: A comparison between rural leaders and residents. Journal of the Community Development Society, 20(1), 1-18.
5.
Blanchard, D.A. (1981). Seminary effects on professional role orientation . Review of Religious Research, 22(4), 346-361.
6.
Bridges, W. (1994). Job shift: How to prosper in a world without jobs . Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
7.
Brockner, J. (1992, Winter). Managing the effects of layoff on others . California Management Review, pp. 9-27.
8.
Deitch, F., Barksky, A., Butz, R.M., Chan, S., Brief, A.P., & Bradley, J.C. (2003). Subtle yet significant: The existence and impact of everyday racial discrimination in the workplace. Human Relations, 56(11), 1299-1324.
9.
Downs, C.W., & Hazan, M. (1977). A factor analysis of communication satisfaction . Journal of Business Communication, 14, 63-74.
10.
Ebberwein, C.A., Krieshok, T.S., Ulven, J.C., & Prosser, E.C. (2004). Voices in transition: Lessons on career adaptability . The Career Development Quarterly, 52, 292-308.
11.
Erlich, H.J., & Lee, D. (1969). Dogmatism, learning, and resistance to change: A review and a new paradigm. Psychological Bulletin,71, 249-260.
12.
Fletcher, J. (2001). Disappearing act: Gender, power and relational practice at work. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
13.
Forret, M.L. (2006). The impact of social networks on the advancement of women and racial/ethnic minority groups. In M. Karsten (Ed.), Gender, ethnicity, and race in the workplace (Vol. 3, pp. 149-166). Westport, CT : Praeger.
14.
Forret, M.L., & Sullivan, S.E. (2003). A balanced scorecard approach to networking: A guide to successfully navigating career changes. Organizational Dynamics, 31(3), 245-258.
15.
Garsten, C. (1999). Betwixt and between: Temporary employees as liminal subjects in flexible organizations. Organization Studies, 20(4), 601-617.
16.
Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. New York: Bantam Books .
17.
Goodman, J. (1994). Career adaptability in adults: A construct whose time has come. Career Development Quarterly, 43(1), 74-84.
18.
Gottschalk, P., & Danziger, S. (2005). Inequity of wage rates, earnings and family income in the United States: 1975-2003. Review of Income and Wealth , 51(2), 231-254.
19.
Gradman, T.J. (1994). Masculine identity from work to retirement. In E. H. Thompson, Jr. (Ed.), Older men's lives (pp. 104-121). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
20.
Hakim, C. (1994). We are all self-employed: The new social contract for working in a changed world. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
21.
Hall, D.T. (1986). Career development in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
22.
Hall, D.T. (2002). Careers in and out of organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
23.
Hall, D.T., & Chandler, D.E. (2005). Psychological success: When the career is a calling. Journal of Organizational Behavior , 26, 155-176.
24.
Hall, D.T., Zhu, G., & Yan, A. (2002). Career creativity as protean identity transformation . In M. Peiperl, M. Arthur, & N. Anand (Eds.), Career creativity: Explorations in the remaking of work (pp. 159-180). New York: Oxford University Press.
25.
Hansson, R.O., DeKoekkoek, P.D., Neece, W.M., & Patterson, D.W. (1997). Successful aging at work: Annual review, 1992-1996: The older worker and transitions to retirement. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 51, 202-233.
26.
Heslin, P.A. (2005). Experiencing career success. Organizational Dynamics, 34(4), 376-390.
27.
Hitt, M.A., & Ireland, R.D. (2002). The essence of strategic leadership: Managing human and social capital. Journal of Leadership andOrganizational Studies, 9(1), 3-14.
28.
Hurrell, J.J., & McLaney, M.A. (1988). Exposure to job strain: A new psychometric instrumentScandinavian Journal of Work Environment and Health, 14, 27-28.
29.
Johnson, S. (1998). Who moved my cheese? An amazing way to deal with change in your work and in your life. New York: G. P. Putnam.
30.
Karasek, R.A. (1979). Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly,24, 285-310.
31.
Karasek, R.A., Gordon, G., Pietrokovsky, C., Frese, M., Pieper, C., Schwartz, J., et al. (1985). Job content questionnaire: Questionnaire and users' guide. Lowell: University of Massachusetts Press.
32.
Karasek, R.A., & Theorell, T. (1990). Healthy work: Stress, productivity, and the reconstruction of working life. New York: Basic Books.
33.
Kerr, S., & Von Glinow, M.A. (1977). Issues in the study of professionals in organizations: The case of scientists and engineers. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 18, 329-345.
34.
King, Z., Burke, S., & Pemberton, J. (2005). The “bounded” career: An empirical study of human capital, career mobility and employment outcomes in a mediated labour market. Human Relations, 58(8), 981-1007.
35.
Kotter, J.P. (1996). Leading change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
36.
Kouzes, J.M., & Posner, B.Z. (2002). The leadership challenge (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass .
37.
Kunda, G., Barley, S.R., & Evans, J. (2002). Why do contractors contract? The experience of highly skilled technical professionals in a contingent labor market. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 55(2), 234-261.
38.
Lepak, D.P., & Snell, S.A. (1999). The human resource architecture: Toward a theory of human capital allocation and development. Academy of Management Review, 24(1), 31-48.
39.
McCall, M.W., Lombardo, M.M., & Morrison, A.M. (1988). The lessons of experience: How successful executives develop on the job. New York : Free Press.
40.
Metz, I. (2004). Do personality traits indirectly affect women's advancement?Journal of Managerial Psychology, 19(7), 695-707.
41.
Morrison, R.F. (1996). Adaptability. Unpublished technical report, Navy Personnel Research and Development Center, San Diego, CA.
42.
Morrison, R.W., & Hall, D.T. (2001). A proposed model of individual adaptability. Unpublished technical report, San Diego, CA.
43.
Nelson, P.D. (1975, April). Biographical constructs as predictors of adjustment to organizational environments. Paper presented at the Research Seminar on Social Psychology of Military Service , University of Chicago.
44.
Ortiz, F.I. (1978). Midcareer socialization of educational administrators . Review of Educational Research, 48(1), 121-132.
45.
Pearlman, K., & Barney, M.F. (2000). In J. F. Kehoe (Ed.), Managing selection in changing organizations: Human resource strategies (pp. 3-72). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
46.
Pulakos, E.D., Arad, S., Donovan, M.A., & Plamondon, K.E. (2000). Adaptability in the workplace: Development of a taxonomy of adaptive performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(4), 612-624.
47.
Reise, M., & Gold, D.P. (1993). Retirement, personality, and life satisfaction: A review and two models. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 12, 261-282.
48.
Sanchez, J.I., & Levine, E.L. (2001). Analysis of work in the 20th and 21st centuries . In N. Anderson, D. S. Ones, H. K. Sinangil, & C. Viswesvaran (Eds.), Handbook of industrial, work and organizational psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 71-88). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
49.
Scott, W.R. (2003). Organizations: Rational, natural, and open systems (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
50.
Segrave, K. (1994). The sexual harassment of women in the workplace: 1600-1993. Jefferson, NC: McFarland .
51.
Van Yperen, N.W., & Hagedoorn, M. (2003). Do high job demands create intrinsic motivation, fatigue, or both? The role of job control and job social support. Academy of Management Journal, 46(3), 339-348.
52.
Wall, T.D., Jackson, P.R., Mullarky, S., & Parker, S. (1996). The demand-control model of job strain: A more specific test. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 69, 153-166.
