People who have reached a career plateau may have become demotivated. The career plateau often coincides with the so-called midlife crisis. The midlife and midcareer crisis is a time of reassessment, self-evaluation, and reflection; awareness of aging and of the limitations of the future produces such problems as depression, discouragement and lost motivation, affecting marriage, health, and career. Four major response patterns during a midcareer crisis are the constructive, underachieving, defensive, and depressed styles. Managers dealing with staff undergoing midcareer crisis can help people change their dysfunctional responses and adjust to their altered environment. There are five basic tasks with which managers can help individuals: (1) developing awareness of career anchors; (2) assessing the implications for the future of those anchors; (3) choosing to accept the present or work toward change; (4) working out new roles and new family/work relationships; and (5) working out mentoring relationships. Matching organizational and individual needs through such strategies as job redesign, counseling, retraining, retirement, and reward systems enables the organization and its personnel to weather the midcareer crisis. (SK)