Abstract: | A key ingredient in the knowledge economy is the development of people's careers. Companies approach career development in a variety of ways. To better understand how these approaches fit together and how they are used to address different situations, the authors surveyed 194 United Kingdom companies and identified five groups of practices. These groups were associated with certain organizational characteristics. Drawing on concepts from the careers literature, the authors suggest a two‐dimensional model to explore how these groups of practices can be systematically understood and applied. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |