Career Orientations of R&D Engineers in a Large

The purpose of this paper is to explore the career orientations of engineers. Although much has been written on this general subject, the data presented in this paper will identify characteristics of people with three different career orientations and should add substantially to data provided by earlier investigators. In recent years, research focused on careers has been particularly fruitful in the study of work in organizations. The study of careers is useful because it focuses on the fundamental link between individual and organization and involves the study of how each party attempts to influence the behavior of the other. It is this basic link that serves as the basis for collective action. The term "career " has been used to describe everything from vertical progression up an organizational hierarchy (Hall, 1976) to a non-work related series of diverse life experiences (Goffman, 1961). The defini-tion that is used here is stated by Hall (1976) , "A career is th