Advancing careers through ‘merit’: a rationalized-sensemaking narrative in hierarchical organizations

ABSTRACT

This contribution provides an in-context exploration of how middle-managers make sense of their career progress, and particularly focuses on ‘merit’ to understand how careers are driven in a hierarchical organization. The study exposes ‘merit’ as a fragmented and individualized construction that links back to the participants’ broader life ambitions and identity footprint. It also shows a tendency for maintaining trust in ‘merit’ above other circumstantial and opportunity factors, even in face of events which undermine the application of the merit-based principle. ‘Merit’ is hence portrayed to be a rationalized narrative in careers’ trajectory; a marker used by participants to make sense of events in a coherent manner, consequently experiencing self-efficacy and reducing uncertainty. The findings add complexity to the ‘meritocracy’ debate, calling for new critiques which address its underlying inequality dimension while also contemplating the individual psychological purpose driving ‘merit’ beliefs.

KEYWORDS:

• Merit
• meritocracy
• linearity
• self-continuity
• career trajectory
• narrative

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Andrés Pérez http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6797-3822

Ida Sabelis http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0109-0127

Notes

1 RQ.A: In a hierarchical-traditional organization such as the one of the case study, is merit-based advancement the dominant conception (still)?

2 RQ.B: How is ‘merit’ defined by each participant and what nuances can be found across definitions?

3 RQ.C: How is the notion of merit-based advancement protected and maintained in light of unfair events?

4 To the scope of the present study, ‘circumstances’ account for diverse environmental or contextual factors that go beyond the person’s control: it could be the company’s economic situation, the company’s culture, or broader factors such as labour market conditions.