ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how the career contract affects the steps that organizations take towards organizational career management (OCM). It illustrates important insights with practical examples from the world of organizations. A review of the literature suggests that differences in OCM exist that reflect the employment relationship and the content of the psychological contract between the employer and the employee. According to the traditional, relational psychological contract, individuals are promised job security and lifetime employment by their employers in return for hard work, loyalty, and outstanding commitment. Traditional OCM is largely planned, controlled, and managed by the organization and serves to fulfill organizational needs. Contemporary OCM is focused on the idea of the “contemporary career” that emphasizes the importance of lifelong learning and individual responsibility for career development. OCM is expected to be associated with improved HR planning, which positively relates to numerical flexibility, and to improved HR selection as well as functional and job change, which leads to functional flexibility.
