Action Research Action Learning and Process Management Assoc. Inc. 

A L A R P M  Conference Abstracts

Solutions outside the square   
Practitioner Development Conference
Bardon Conference Centre,
Brisbane, Australia, 12 - 13 July, 1998

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Martin Grimmer
"Managing the process of mid-life crisis: learning from career change."

In the current climate of economic rationalism and downsizing, many people are being forced into a "mid-life crisis". How do people manage when a career change is forced on them? Other people are willingly leaving one career path to pursue another. Why are they doing this and how do they manage their change in direction? There needs to be more work on career change and career crisis as it relates to the search for meaning in work-life, and on the effect of redundancies on changes in career direction. As the rate of redundancy rises, innovative solutions are required: solutions outside the square. This session will provide an opportunity to explore some of the issues associated with changing direction mid-career, whether such a process can be managed, and what can be learned from the experience. Models of personal change will be related to career change, and participants personal experiences will be drawn upon to construct a picture of the process of career change. Making a career change can be like Bungee Jumping without knowing whether or not a rope is there. For each person faced with a career change event, the success with which they manage the process will depend largely upon their willingness to reflect upon and learn from their experience, and their willingness to step into the unknown. Personal reflection will be encouraged, and the presenter will draw upon his own experiences of moving career (still in process) from psychologist to historian.

Process

A participative session, that will involve some reflection on personal experiences, as well as some individual change theory as it relates to career change. Participants will have the opportunity to relate the material to their own lives, and be encouraged to draw generalisations that they can find personally useful.

Presenter

Martin Grimmer. Psychologist, and part-time Lecturer in Management and Organisational Psychology, University of Tasmania. Full-time PhD student in Celtic history, University of Tasmania.

 

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