Executives and Supervisors: Contrasting Definitions of Career Success

In exploring the thesis that attitudes and values are basic determinants of career patterns, this paper empirically identifies and analyzes differential definitions of career success held by top-level executives and first-line supervisors. The executive, needing esteem and personal accomplishment, regards the achievement of high position essential for success. The supervisor, with a lower level of aspiration and less mobility drive, defines success in terms of security, respect, and happiness. While the executive is motivated toward continually higher achievement, the supervisor does not establish successively higher goals after attaining his modest ambitions. Implications for current theory concerning job motivation and morale are discussed. Roland J. Pellegrin is associate professor of sociology at Louisiana State University; Charles H. Coates is assistant dean of the College of Military Science and assistant professor of sociology at the University of Maryland.