Prevention of Stagnation in Work and Career

Axiometrics Applied to the Concept of Stagnation

Abstract

In our work, we encountered what can only be called stagnation, both in people’s careers and in their current work. There was no clear model or theoretical framework for how to describe or measure this concept, so to create a model, we developed several frameworks. Firstly, we created a competency test (called the GIDA) to measure stagnation risks in daily work execution and career development. We felt the need not just to measure stagnation in relation to growth and vitality, but also to explain it on a deeper level and to develop a way to predict it. We turned to the Hartman philosophy and methodology as a possible way to do this. We built a five-domain model on stagnation versus vitality, i.e. Work, Career, Organizational Culture, and the two Hartman lists on World and Self (existence). On all five domains we constructed and validated new HVP’s. We also constructed an expert system and new reports to explain these results. We found axiological patterns related to various forms of stagnation. We describe ten of these in this article. We tell about the practical applications of both methods, the GIDA-test and the Learnworks HVP and how they are combined in our practice. The first as a fast, relatively cheap tool to measure large groups on stagnation risks under the motto: “Fit for the Future.” We used the five HVP’s to do a more in- depth analysis of candidates flagged in the GIDA-test. Because the HVP method is difficult to explain (and sell) we see it as a part of a general solution, of which this is one example. Finally, we tell about our present research with axiology, about building HVP’s on leadership, and our research doing predictive validation.