Managing individual career aspirations and corporate needs: a study of software engineers in France

Abstract

Managing engineering professionals is critical in high-tech corporations. Typically this leads to hiring a large pool of engineers to benefit from their varied technical skills and to buffer against environmental change. Intra-organizational mobility becomes a means both to develop engineers' skills and to manage careers in the lean organization era, with limited upward mobility opportunities. Corporate priorities may conflict with individual needs, however, although the former should include engineers' own career aspirations. This study of software engineers working in a large French electronics firm examines the impact of several individual variables on engineers' willingness to accept various internal mobility opportunities. The findings reveal that mobility involving a major functional change is linked to individuals' career anchors, while mobility closest to their current job is mostly influenced by job satisfaction variables. Managerial implications of these findings are then discussed.