Untitled Quiz

Career Management and Development

• Chapter 12
• Copyright 2008 Werner et al.

Learning Objectives

• Define "career" and explain roles in career management and development
• Explain the impact of the "new employment relationship" on career management
• Describe how life and career development models enhance understanding of careers
• Explain career management and describe models
• Describe five career management practices
• Describe four issues affecting career management
• Understand designing a career management program

Have You Ever Wondered...?

• What is a "new employment relationship"?
• Is career development still relevant?
• What are typical career issues at different ages?
• What roles should employees, managers, and HR play in managing careers?
• What career development activities do organizations use?

Careers

• Studying careers and development is a major area of inquiry within social sciences
• Psychologists, educators, sociologists, economists, and management scholars study how people select work, navigate it, and make changes throughout their career.

Careers and HRD

• Understanding and influencing employee careers is an integral part of HRD.
• Career development provides future orientation to HRD activities.
• People and organizations constantly change.

Need for Career Development

• Organizational objectives and knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) change in response to environmental factors.

Changes in Environment

• Rapid change
• Increased competition
• Globalization
• Employment relationship less loyalty-based
• Flatter, less hierarchical organizational structures

The "New Employment Relationship"

• Past "entitlement" mentality towards jobs and employee benefits.
• Career development was primarily the organization's concern.
• The goal was to fill management ranks with individuals prepared for the tasks and organization culture.

Old-Style Career Development

• Career development practices created internal labor markets to meet organizational needs.
• Career progress was defined by promotions and pay increases within the organization.
• Employees primarily focused on vertical career advancement.

Changes in the Relationship

• Organizations can't promise job security, promotions, or retirement benefits.
• Individuals are responsible for their own employability.

The Realization of Employment Mortality

• Employees are responsible for their own continued employability.
• This creates uncertainty for many people.

The Changing Employee

• Employees are expected to develop and maintain skills.
• Adding value to the organization and understanding their employer’s business is crucial.

The Changing Employer

• Employers should provide skill development, training, and education opportunities.
• Employee involvement in decision making, and performance-based compensation.
• Concept of boundaryless careers has gained popularity (careers not tied to a single organization or profession).

Impact of the "New" Employment Relationship

• Organizations will continue to have long-term relationships with some employees.
• Work organizations and their goals change over time.

What Is a Career?

• "Career" has different meanings for different people.

The Property of an Occupation or Organization

• Advancement denotes progression and success in an occupation
• Status of a profession
• Degree of involvement in one's work
• Stability of a person's work pattern.
• Related jobs describe a career; unrelated jobs do not.

Career Defined

• A career is broadly defined as the pattern of work-related experiences throughout a person's life.
• This includes objective events (jobs) and subjective views (attitudes, values, and expectations).

Career Choice

• Individual's job and occupational choices during a career are influenced by (1) internal factors (e.g., skills, knowledge, abilities, attitudes, values, personality, and life situation) and (2) external factors (e.g., society, family, the educational system, and the organization).

Relationship of Career to Non-work Activities

• Consider individual skills, abilities, and interests.
• Recognize the influence of relationships outside of work on employees.
• People enter organizations for various reasons (e.g., pay, work satisfaction); reasons often change with age.

Career Development

• An ongoing process of individual progression through stages with unique issues, themes, and tasks.

Career Planning and Career Management

• Both individuals and organizations have interests in a person's career.
• Both parties may take actions to influence the career.
• These activities are referred to as career planning and career management, and can be viewed along a continuum.

Career Planning

• A deliberate process of self-awareness, identifying career goals, and outlining steps to achieve them.

Career Management

• An ongoing process of preparing, implementing, and monitoring career plans.
• It can be undertaken by individuals or in concert with the organization's career systems.

Spectrum of Career Development Activities

• Figure illustrating various career development activities

Career Development Activities

• Vary depending on the individual's and organization's influence and provided information.

Stages of Life and Career Development

• Common experiences and challenges occur as people progress through life and career stages.
• Stage views help predict crises and plan ways to resolve them.
• Stage views have limitations as individuals are unique and have different 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 summarizing Erikson's stages of development and associated age ranges.

Levinson's “Eras" Approach to Adult Development

• Major phases of life are like seasons
• Stages are qualitatively different
• Change occurs within each season; there's a transitional period between seasons
• No season is superior or inferior to another
• Each season contributes uniquely to life
• Four seasons or eras in a person's life

Models of Career Development

• Preparation for Work (0-25)
• Organizational Entry (18–25)
• The Early Career (25–40)
• The Mid-Career (40–55)
• The Late Career (55—retirement)

A Five-Stage Model

• Table with specific stages (preparation, organizational entry, early career, mid-career, late career) and tasks during those stages.

Reconciling the Traditional and Contemporary Career Models

• Individuals are responsible for their own employability.
• Organizations also have a responsibility for employee career management and well-being within the organization.
• Age-based models of life and career are still relevant.

Four Career Concepts – 1

• Linear: Progression through organizational hierarchy
• Expert: Devotion to a specialty

Four Career Concepts – 2

• Spiral: Lifelong progression across related occupations over multiple periods.
• Transitory: Frequent movement across different jobs or fields.

Life Stage and Career Models

• Individuals can be prepared for transitions in their lives.
• Organizations can develop strategies to manage career transitions of employees.
• Career management systems should meet HR needs and satisfy employee needs.

The Process of Career Management

• Career management includes planning and putting plans into action.

A Career Management Model

• Figure showing the interconnected processes involved in career management.

Model Characteristics

• The model represents an ideal career management process rather than a description of typical practice.

Eight Career Activities

• Individual responses to the need for career decision making.
• Eight activities include career exploration, awareness of the self and environment, goal setting, strategy development, strategy implementation, progress, feedback, and career appraisal.

The Career Management Cycle

• A cyclical process involving problem-solving, decision-making, information gathering, goal setting, developing plans, and implementing them.
• Feedback is important for ongoing improvement.

Career Management Activities

• Table detailing career exploration (gathering information about self and environment), awareness of self and environment, goal setting, strategy development and implementation, progress toward the goal, feedback from work and non-work sources, and career appraisal.

Stages of a Career Discussion

• Opening/Probing: Establishing rapport and identifying goals
• Understanding/Focusing: Self-assessment and career goal setting and strategy discussions.
• Programming: Supportive help in implementing the career strategy.

Specific Counseling

• Counseling may involve: continuing employment, approaching retirement, being laid off, or terminated.

Outplacement Counseling

• Assisting terminated employees in transition to new organizations
• Focus on job search skills, stress management, and career planning.

Pre-Retirement Counseling

• Counseling and workshops to help employees transition from work to non-work
• Focus on financial planning, adjusting to non-working lifestyle, and personal adjustment.

Using Supervisors as Counselors

• Clarify role in career development.
• Provide training and opportunity to discuss career concerns.
• Incorporate counseling/development into organizational rewards system.

Internal Labor Market Information

• Job Posting: Making open positions known to current employees.
• Career Path: Sequence of jobs and experiences that aid in developing a career strategy

Skills Inventory

• Skills inventory is a database containing information about employee skills, education, performance evaluations, and preferences.

Organization Potential Assessment Processes

• Organizations evaluate potential (promotability) of employees.
• Potential assessments can involve potential ratings, assessment centers, and succession planning.

Potential Ratings

• Similar to employee performance evaluations but focus on future potential.

Assessment Center

• Small groups of employees perform exercises while assessed by trained assessors.
• Exercises measure relevant skills and aptitudes for a given position.

Succession Planning

• Identifying and developing employees to replace upper-level managers.
• Creates a cadre with the required senior management competencies.

Developmental Programs

• Job rotation involving assignment to various jobs.
• Mentoring is a relationship that contributes to the career development of both members.

Concerns in Mentoring

• Cross-gender issues (concerns about intimacy/attraction, relying on sex-role stereotypes).
• Racial issues, including challenges and less support in mentoring relationships.

Cross-Gender Mentoring

• Concerns about intimacy/attraction, sex-role stereotypes.
• Relationship subject to scrutiny and gossip, peer resentment

Racial Issues

• Black protégés with white mentors experienced less satisfaction and lower support compared with same-race mentoring relationships.

Three Conditions for Successful Mentoring

• Clearly link the program to business strategy.
• Identify core components for effectiveness.
• Emphasize voluntary participation and flexible guidelines.

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

• Career Resilience: Ability to resist career barriers or disruptions.
• Career Insight: Realistic self-assessment and understanding of career goals.
• Career Identity: Defining self through work and career direction

Career Plateau

• A point in a career where the likelihood of advancement is low.
• Often causes feelings of stress, frustration, failure, and guilt.

Methods for Increasing Career Motivation

• Support career resilience: build self-esteem through feedback and reinforcement, generate opportunities for achievement, create a risk-taking environment, and encourage collaboration.
• Enhance career insight: encourage goal-setting, provide relevant information, give regular performance feedback.
• Build career identity, encourage work involvement in job challenges and professional growth, provide career development opportunities (leadership positions , advancements), and reward performance with financial incentives.

Career Plateauing

• Career plateauing is more complex than previously thought.
• HR professionals need to assess, identify, and tailor actions to employees' situations..

Career Development for Nonexempt Employees

• Clerical and support staff are paid hourly/weekly rates and may be entitled to overtime.

Development Needs of Nonexempt Employees

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

• Changing roles (e.g., blue collar to white collar; union to nonunion) are significant and need support.

• White collar positions often involve higher education and may lead to lack or support from coworkers.

• Exempt employees may become more frustrated during their careers because of limited vertical transition opportunities

Some Options

• Career development resource center, support for lifelong learning (tuition reimbursement, in-house seminars)

Enrichment

• Career development without advancement through: certification programs, mastery paths, training requirements, retraining programs, job transfers/rotation.

A Systems Approach to Creating a Career Development Program

• Identifying needs to link to business strategy, align employee and organizational need, build a vision for change, develop a plan for action, and implement for impact and longevity.
• Evaluate and maintain results, enhance to support greater openness, and expand measures of career development.