Career Management and Development

Career Management and Development

Chapter 12

Learning Objectives

•      Define the term career, and explain the roles involved in career management and development

•      Explain the effect that the “new employment relationship” is having on career management

•      Describe how models of life and career development enhance our understanding of careers

Learning Objectives – 2

•      Explain what is involved in career management and describe several models of career management

•      Describe five career management practices

•      Describe four issues that affect career management

•      Understand what is involved in designing a career management program

Have You Ever Wondered…

•      What exactly are people talking about when they refer to a “new” employment relationship?

•      If things are changing so rapidly within organizations and in the external environment, does it even make sense to talk about career development issues?

•      Are there typical issues that employees face at particular ages or stages of their careers?

•      What roles should employees, managers, and HRD professionals play in managing employees’ careers?

•      What types of career development activities are actually used by organizations?

Careers

•      Study of careers and how they develop is one of the most active areas of inquiry in the social sciences

•      Psychologists, educators, sociologists, economists, and management scholars all seek to understand how a person selects, works within, and makes decisions to change the focus of his or her working life

Careers and HRD

•      Understanding and finding ways to influence the careers of employees in an organization is also an integral part of HRD

•      Career development provides a future orientation to HRD activities

•      It is a fact of life that people and organizations change

Need for Career Development

•      Developing in a job or a career requires

–  Organizational objectives and the blend of knowledge, skill, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) it will take to reach those objectives change in response to challenges from the environment

Changes in Environment

•      Environment that has been typified by

–  rapid change

–  increased competition

–  globalization

–  an employment relationship that is less loyalty based

–  flatter, less hierarchical organizational structures

The “New Employment Relationship”

•      In the past there was an “entitlement” mentality toward jobs, benefits, and the like, that is, that employers “owed” such things to their employees

•      Career development was seen primarily as the organization’s concern.

–  The goal was to ensure that the ranks of management would be filled with individuals who were prepared for these tasks and fit the  organization’s culture

Old-Style Career Development

•      Career development practices that were used primarily created an internal labor market to fulfill the organization’s needs

•      Career progress was defined primarily in terms of promotion and pay increases within one organization

•      Individuals often viewed career planning to the extent that they had vertical aspirations and were selected for or volunteered to participate in the organization’s development activities

•      Moving up through the ranks of management was often the main career goal

Changes in the Relationship

•      We can’t promise you

–   how long we’ll be in business

–   that we won’t be acquired

–   that there’ll be room for promotion

–   that your job will exist when you reach retirement age

–   that the money will be available for your pension

•      We can’t expect your undying loyalty, and we aren’t even sure we want it

The Realization of Employment Mortality

•      That employees, not the organization, are responsible for their own continued employability has created uncertainty for many people

The Changing Employee

•      Employees are increasingly expected to assume responsibility for

–  developing and maintaining their own skills

–  adding demonstrable value to the organization

–  understanding the nature of their employer’s business

The Changing Employer

•      Employers should provide

–   opportunities for skill development, training, and education

–   employee involvement in decision making, assistance with career management (e.g., coaching and mentoring), and performance-based compensation

•      Overall, the concept of a “boundary-less” career, that is, a career not bound to one organization or profession, has become popular

Impact of the “New” Employment Relationship

•      There will continue to be a significant number of organizations that have long-term relationships with their employees

•      The work organizations do to achieve their goals changes over time

What Is a Career?

•      “Career” means many things to many people

The Property of an Occupation or Organization

•      Advancement

–    Career denotes one’s progression and increasing success within an occupation or organization

•      Status of a profession. Some use the term career to separate the “professions,” from other occupations

–    The lawyer is said to have a career, while the carpenter does not

•      Degree of involvement in one’s work

•      Stability of a person’s work pattern

–    A sequence of related jobs is said to describe a career, whereas a sequence of unrelated jobs does not

Career Defined

•      A career is best described broadly as

–  “the pattern of work-related experiences that span the course of a person’s life”

–  This definition includes both

•   objective events, such as jobs

•   subjective views of work, such as the person’s attitudes, values, and expectations

Career Choice

•      The job and occupational choices an individual makes during a career are determined in large part by

–   forces within the individual,

–   the organization

–   other external forces

•    (e.g., society, family, the educational system)

•      The individual is driven toward particular job choices by his or her skills, knowledge, abilities, attitudes, values, personality, and life situation

Relationship of Career to Non-work Activities

•      One must consider all of an individual’s skills, abilities, and interests

•      One must recognize the impact and value that relationships outside of work have on employees

•      People come to organizations for specific reasons

–   those reasons often change as they age

Career Development

•      An ongoing process by which individuals progress through a series of stages, each of which is characterized by a relatively unique set of issues, themes, and tasks

Career Planning and Career Management

•      Both the individual and the organization have interests in an individual’s career

•      Both parties may take actions to influence that career

•      These sets of related activities are referred to as career planning and career management

•      These activities can be viewed as existing along a continuum

Career Planning

•      A deliberate process of

–  becoming aware of self, opportunities, constraints, choices, and consequences

–  identifying career-related goals

–  programming work, education, and related developmental experiences to provide the direction, timing, and sequence of steps to attain a specific career goal

Career Management

•      An ongoing process of

–  preparing

–  implementing

–  monitoring career plans

•      Undertaken by the individual alone or in concert with the organization’s career systems

Spectrum of Career Development Activities

Fig. 12-1

Career Development Activities

•      Vary according to

–  the amount of influence by the individual

–  the amount of information provided to the individual

–  the amount of influence by the organization

–  the amount of information provided to the organization

Stages of Life and Career Development

•      Common experiences, challenges, or tasks most people seem to go through as their life or career progresses

•      Stage view helps to predict likely crises and challenges and therefore plan ways to resolve or minimize them

•      Stage views of development have their limitations

–   all individuals are unique

–   and will not have the same experiences

Stage Views of Adult Development

•      Erikson’s Model of Adult Development

•      Levinson’s “Eras” Approach to Adult Development

Erikson’s Model of Adult Development

Table 12-1

Levinson’s “Eras” Approach to Adult Development

•      Major phases of a person’s life (called eras) are like seasons of the year in the following ways:

–   They are qualitatively different

–   Change occurs within each season

–   There is a transitional period between each season that is part of both seasons

–   No season is superior or inferior to another season

–   Each season contributes something unique to life

–   There are four seasons or eras in a person’s life

Levinson’s “Eras” Approach to Adult Development

Fig. 12-2

Models of Career Development

•      Preparation for Work (Age 0–25)

•      Organizational Entry (Age 18–25)

•      The Early Career (Age 25–40)

•      The Mid-Career (Age 40–55)

•      The Late Career (Age 55–Retirement)

A Five-Stage Model

Table 12-2

Occupational Choice:  Preparation for Work

A Five-Stage Model

Table 12-2

•      Organizational Entry

A Five-Stage Model

Table 12-2

•      Early Career: Establishment and Achievement

A Five-Stage Model

Table 12-2

•      Mid-Career

A Five-Stage Model

Table 12-2

•      Late Career

Reconciling the Traditional and Contemporary Career Models

•      Individuals should take responsibility for their lives and employability

•      Organizations also bear a responsibility for career management,

–  for their own interests

–  for the well-being of those who work within their organization

•      It would be foolish to ignore age-based stage models of life and career

Four Career Concepts – 1

•      Linear

–   A progression of movement up an organizational hierarchy to positions of greater responsibility and authority; motivated by desire for power and achievement; variable time line; in the United States, this has been the traditional view of a “career”

•      Expert

–   A devotion to an occupation; focus on building knowledge and skill within a specialty; little upward movement in a traditional hierarchy, more from apprentice to master; motivated by desire for competence and stability; rooted in the medieval guild structure

Four Career Concepts – 2

•      Spiral

–   A lifelong progression of periodic (seven to ten years) moves across related occupations, disciplines, or specialties; sufficient time to achieve a high level of competence in a given area before moving on; motives include creativity and personal growth

•      Transitory

–   A progression of frequent (three to five years) moves across different or unrelated jobs or fields; untraditional; motives include variety and independence

Life Stage and Career Models

•      By understanding the models

–  individuals can be better equipped to think about, anticipate, and manage the transitions they will experience during their lives

–  organizations can develop strategies and tactics to

•   manage the career transitions their employees will experience

•   create career management systems that will both meet the organizations’ HR needs and satisfy the needs of employees

The Process of Career Management

•      Career management involves both

–  planning for career activities

–  putting those plans into action

A Career Management Model

Fig 12-3

Model Characteristics

•      Model represents an ideal career management process:

–  the way people should conduct career management

–  not a description of what the typical person actually does

Eight Career Activities

•      Individual responds to the need to make a career decision.

•      That response includes eight activities:

–   career exploration

–   awareness of self and environment

–   goal setting

–   strategy development

–   strategy implementation

–   progress toward the goal

–   feedback from work and non-work sources

–   career appraisal

The Career Management Cycle

•      A problem-solving, decision-making process

•      Information is gathered so individuals can become more aware of themselves, and
the world around them

•      Goals are established, plans or strategies are developed and implemented

•      Feedback is obtained to provide more information for ongoing career management

Career Management Activities

Table 12-3

•      Career exploration.

–   Career exploration involves gathering information about one’s self and the environment

•      Awareness of self and environment

–   Successful career exploration will lead the individual to a deeper self-awareness

–   An understanding of both opportunities and constraints present in the environment

•      This awareness of self and environment can lead the individual to set or revise career goals, or strategies

Career Management Activities

Table 12-3

•      Goal setting.

–  A career goal is an outcome the individual decides to try to obtain

•   Such goals may be specific (e.g., I want to become a partner in my accounting firm by age 35) or general (e.g., I want to be a successful and respected chef)

–  To the extent career goals are based on an awareness of the self and environment, they are likely to be realistic

Career Management Activities

Table 12-3

•       Strategy development

–    A career strategy is an action plan for accomplishing the career goal

•    Includes the actions that should be carried out and a timetable for performing them

•    The strategy will be more effective if it is based on realistic self-awareness and environmental awareness

•       Seven career strategies:

–    competency in the current job

–    increased involvement in work

–    developing skills

–    developing opportunities

–    cultivating mentor relationships

–    image building

–    engaging in organizational politics

Career Management Activities

Table 12-3

•      Strategy Implementation

–    Strategy implementation involves carrying out the strategy the individual has developed

–    Following a realistic strategy as opposed to acting without a clearly defined plan increases the likelihood of attaining the career goal

–    It is easier to get where you want to go if you have a plan to follow

–    Strategy implementation can lead to progress toward the goal and feedback from work and non-work sources

Career Management Activities

Table 12-3

•      Progress toward the goal

–   This is the extent to which the individual is nearing the career goal

•      Feedback from work and non-work sources

–   Valuable information about the progress toward the career goal can be obtained from both

•    work sources—such as co-workers, supervisors, and specialists

•    non-work sources—such as friends, family, and teachers

Career Management Activities

Table 12-3

•      Career appraisal

–  Feedback and information on progress toward the career goal permit the individual to appraise his or her career

–  This appraisal leads to reengagement in career exploration

–   the career management process continues with another cycle of activities

The Cyclical Career Management Process

•      Career management process is cyclical and ongoing

•      The need to make career decisions can result from

–  changes within the individual

•   (e.g., questioning done at mid-career) and

–   changes in the environment

•   (e.g., organizational decisions such as firing and downsizing, or a merger or acquisition)

Organizationally Oriented Career Management Models

•      The Pluralistic Approach

–  At least four career concepts that represent patterns employees’ careers can take

–  Organizations can have career cultures that mirror these career concepts

•   Linear

•   Expert

•   Spiral

•   Transitory

The Career Culture

•      An organization’s career culture is defined by

–  the organization’s structure

–  what forms of performance it values

–  the rewards it offers employees

•      Organization’s career culture should support its strategic direction

–   (e.g., an organization seeking diversification should adopt a spiral career concept culture)

HRD and Career Development Professional’s Responsibility – 1

•             To help individuals become “masters of their own careers”:

–         Start with the recognition that each individual “owns” his or her career

–         Create information and support for the individual’s own efforts at development

–         Recognize that career development is a relational process in which the career practitioner plays a broker role

HRD and Career Development Professional’s Responsibility – 2

4. Become an expert on career information and assessment technologies

5. Become a professional communicator about your services and the new career contract

6. Promote work planning that benefits the organization as a whole, over career planning that is unrelated to organizational goals and future directions

HRD and Career Development Professional’s Responsibility – 3

7. Promote learning through relationships at work

8. Be an organizational interventionist

–  Someone willing and able to intervene where there are roadblocks to successful career management

HRD and Career Development Professional’s Responsibility – 4

9. Promote mobility and the idea of the lifelong learner identity

10. Develop the mind-set of using natural (existing) resources for development

Career Development Tools and Linkages

Table 12-4

Career Development Practice

A. Employee self-assessment tools

1. Pre-retirement workshops

2. Career planning workshops

3. Career workbooks (stand-alone)

4. Computer software

Career Development Activities and Practices

Table 12-4

Career Development Practice

B. Individual counseling or career discussions

–   Supervisor or line manager

–   Human Resource staff

–   Specialized counselor

•   internal

•   external

–   Senior career advisors

Career Development Activities and Practices

Table 12-4

Career Development Practice

C. Internal labor-market information exchanges

–   Career ladders or dual career ladders

–   Career resource center

–   Career information handbooks

–   Other career information formats

Career Development Activities and Practices

Table 12-4

Career Development Practice

D. Job matching systems

–    Job posting

–    Replacement or succession planning

–    Internal placement systems

–    Informal canvassing

–    Skills inventories or skills audit

–    Staffing committees

Career Development Activities and Practices

Table 12-4

Career Development Activity

E. Organizational potential assessment processes

–    Interview process

–    Job assignments

–    Promotability forecasts

–    Psychological testing

–    Assessment centers

Career Development Activities and Practices

Table 12-4

Career Development Activity

F. Development programs

–  Tuition reimbursement

–  In-house T&D programs

–  External seminars and workshops

–  Employee orientation programs

–  Job rotation

Career Development Activities and Practices

Table 12-4

Career Development Activity

F. Development programs (Continued)

–    Supervisor training in career discussions

–    Job enrichment or job redesign

–    Mentoring systems

–    Dual-career couple programs

Individual Counseling or Career Discussions

•      Three Stages

–  Opening and Probing

•   This stage establishes rapport and determines the employee’s goals for the counseling session(s)

–  Understanding and Focusing

•   This includes providing assistance in self-assessment and establishing career goals and strategies

–  Programming

•   This stage provides support for implementing the career strategy

Specific Counseling

•      Counseling can be used for

–  Employees continuing employment

–  Employees who are

•   approaching retirement

•   about to be laid off

•   terminated

Outplacement Counseling

•      Outplacement counseling focuses on assisting terminated employees in making the transition to a new organization

–  can focus on job search skills, stress management, and career planning

–  most likely to be performed by a counselor who is not an organization member

Pre-Retirement Counseling

•      Pre-retirement counseling and workshops involve

–   activities that help employees prepare for the transition from work to non-work

•      Retirement is often filled with great uncertainty on both the personal and the financial level

•      Pre-retirement counseling programs typically involve discussions about financial planning, social adjustment, family issues, and preparing for leisure activities

Using Supervisors as Counselors

•      Their role in the career development process must be clarified

•      They must be trained to perform this role

•      They must have the opportunity to discuss their own career development concerns

•      The role of counselor or developer should be incorporated into the organizational reward system

–  included in performance evaluations

Internal Labor Market Information

•      Job Posting

–   Making open positions in the organization known to current employees before advertising them to outsiders

•      Career Path

–   Sequence of jobs, usually involving related tasks and experiences, that employees move through over time

–   Together with job descriptions and job specifications, these paths can aid the employee in developing a career strategy

Internal Labor Market Information

•      Skills Inventory

–  A skills inventory is a database that contains information about employee skills, education, performance evaluation, and career preferences

Organization Potential Assessment Processes

•      Many organizations evaluate the potential, or promotability, of managerial, professional, and technical employees

•      Three ways that potential assessment can be done

–  potential ratings

–  assessment centers

–  succession planning

Potential Ratings

•      Similar to employee performance evaluations

•      Focus on future potential instead of current performance

Assessment Center

•      Small groups of employees perform a variety of exercises while being evaluated by a group of trained assessors

–  simulations, role plays, group discussions, tests, and interviews

–  should measure relevant skills and aptitudes for a given position

Succession Planning

•      Done for upper-level management positions

•      Requires senior managers to identify employees who should be developed to replace them

•      Goal of the process is one of creating a cadre of individuals who have the competencies needed to work as part of a senior management team

Developmental Programs

•      Job rotation

–  involves assigning an employee to a series of jobs in different functional areas of the organization

•      Mentoring

–  a relationship between a junior and senior member of the organization that contributes to the career development of both members

Concerns in Mentoring

•      Cross-Gender Issues

•      Racial Issues

Cross-Gender Mentoring

•      Concern exists between the parties about intimacy and sexual attraction

•      There is an inclination for men and women to rely on sex-role stereotypes

•      Dissatisfaction with the role-modeling aspect of the relationship may be felt

•      The relationship is subject to public scrutiny

–   e.g., jealous spouses, office gossip

•      Peer resentment may occur

Racial Issues

•      Black protégés with white mentors reported

–  less satisfaction with the mentoring relationship

–  less support than did members of same-race mentoring relationships

Three Conditions for Successful Mentoring

1. The program should be clearly linked to business strategy and existing HR policies and practices

–     to increase the chances that potential participants and senior management will accept and actively support the program

2. Core components of the program (objectives, guidelines, training and education, communication strategy, monitoring and evaluation, and coordination) should be designed for effectiveness rather than expediency

3. Voluntary participation and flexible guidelines are critical to success

Issues in Career Development

•      Developing Career Motivation

•      The Career Plateau

•      Career Development for Nonexempt Employees

•      Enrichment: Career Development without Advancement

Definitions of the Three Facets of Career Motivation

Table 12-5

•      Career resilience.

–     The extent to which people resist career barriers or disruptions affecting their work. This consists of self-confidence, need for achievement, the willingness to take risks, and the ability to act independently and cooperatively as appropriate.

2. Career insight

–      The extent to which people are realistic about themselves and their careers and how these perceptions are related to career goals. This includes developing goals and gaining knowledge of the self and the environment.

3. Career identity

–     The extent to which people define themselves by their work. This includes involvement in job, organization, and profession and the direction of career goals (e.g., toward advancement in an organization).

Career Plateau

•      A career plateau has been defined as “the point in a career where the likelihood of additional hierarchical promotion is very low”

–  A traumatic experience for many employees

–  Accompanied by feelings of stress, frustration, failure, and guilt

Methods for Increasing Career Motivation

Table 12-6

1. To support career resilience

a. Build employees’ self-confidence through feedback and positive reinforcement

b. Generate opportunities for achievement

c. Create an environment conducive to risk taking by rewarding innovation and reducing fear of failure

d. Show interpersonal concern and encourage group cohesiveness and collaborative working relationships

Methods for Increasing Career Motivation

Table 12-6

2. To enhance career insight:

a. Encourage employees to set their own goals

b. Supply employees with information relevant to attaining their career goals

c. Provide regular performance feedback

Methods for Increasing Career Motivation

Table 12-6

3. To build career identity

a. Encourage work involvement through job challenge and professional growth

b. Provide career development opportunities, such as leadership positions and advancement potential

c. Reward solid performance through financial bonus

Career Plateauing

•      Is more complex than previously thought.

•      HRD professionals should

–  assess whether employees are plateaued by   determining employees’ perceptions of the extent to which their careers are stalled

–  attempt to identify the reasons for the plateau

–  tailor the action used to resolve an employee’s problem according to the cause of the plateau

Career Development for Nonexempt Employees

•      Clerical and support staff and technicians

–  who are paid hourly or weekly rates

–  are entitled to overtime

Development Needs of Nonexempt Employees

•      Job satisfaction often comes from the work itself, which is problematic if the work is repetitive and unchallenging

•      Changing current status (e.g., union to nonunion, blue collar to white collar) requires both a significant personal investment and a significant cultural adjustment

–   white-collar positions may require higher education levels than blue-collar positions

–   employees who cross the “collar line” may not receive the support they need from coworkers

Development Needs of Nonexempt Employees

•      Exempt employees may become more frustrated during their careers than exempt employees because opportunities to make a vertical transition are more limited for them

Some Options

•      Development resource center

•      Support for lifelong learning activities

–  tuition reimbursement for relevant courses

–  in-house seminars

Enrichment

•      Career Development without Advancement

–  certification programs and mastery paths that specify selection criteria and identify performance expectations

–  training requirements to move through various levels of expertise within a job

–  retraining programs

–  job transfers or rotation

A Systems Approach to Creating a Career Development Program

Table 12-7

•      Identify Needs

1. Link career development to business strategy

2. Align employee and organization needs

A Systems Approach to Creating a Career Development Program

Table 12-7

•             Build a Vision for Change

–         Build systems and link them to other management and HR systems

•          quality initiatives, orientation, performance evaluation, compensation

–         Use a variety of tools and approaches.

A Systems Approach to Creating a Career Development Program

Table 12-7

•             Develop a Plan for Action

–         Create a corporate infrastructure, but implement career development systems in individual business units or divisions

–         Ensure line manager participation, starting with system development

A Systems Approach to Creating a Career Development Program

Table 12-7

•             Implement for Impact and Longevity

–         Hold line managers accountable and give them the skills they will need to fulfill their responsibilities.

–         Follow up initial implementation with a series of activities that keep career development salient

•         information sharing, career action teams

A Systems Approach to Creating a Career Development Program

Table 12-7

•      Evaluate and Maintain Results

–  Evaluate

–  Continuously improve the career development effort

–  Maintain high visibility and ongoing communication of career development

Enhancing Organizational Career Development Efforts

•             Integrate individual developmental planning with organizational strategic planning

•             Strengthen the linkages between career development and other HRM systems

3. Move career development systems toward greater openness

Enhancing Organizational Career Development Efforts

4. Enhance the role of managers in career development through both skill building and accountability

5. Develop and expand peer learning and other team-based developmental approaches

6. Stress on-the-job development; deemphasize traditional training programs that are isolated, one-shot events

Enhancing Organizational Career Development Efforts

7. Emphasize enrichment and lateral movement.

8. Identify and develop transferable competencies

9. Include values and lifestyle assessments in career development activities

10. Implement a variety of career development approaches to accommodate different learning styles and the needs of a diverse workforce

11. Tie career development directly to organizational quality initiatives

Enhancing Organizational Career Development Efforts

12. Expand career development measure-ment and evaluation

13. Continue to study best practices and organizational career development in a global context