Career Development Theories & Strategies

Career Development
Career development is a major aspect of human development.

It is about creating and discovering pathways through ones life and work. Career development is an ongoing and formalized effort that focuses on developing enriched and more capable employees.

Career development or managing your career is important both from the companys perspective and the employees perspective.

Value for the Organization

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To develop and create a pool of talented people Facilitates succession planning and development to ensure long-term growth and success of the organisation. Improves the organization's ability to attract and retain talented employees. Ensures that employees get opportunities for growth and development. Reduces employee frustration. Enhances cultural diversity. Promotes organizational goodwill.

Value for the Organization (contd)

Failure to motivate employees to plan their careers can result in a shortage of employees to fill open positions lower employee commitment inappropriate use of funds allocated for training and development programs.

Importance to employee

From the employees perspective, lack of career management can result in:
Frustration Feelings of not being valued by the company Being unable to find suitable employment should a job change be necessary due to mergers, acquisitions, restructuring, or downsizing.

Theories of career development

There are two types of career development theories: structural and developmental
Structural theories focus on individual characteristics and occupational tasks. Developmental theories focus on human development across life span.

Structural Theories
Traits and Factor Theory : proposes that a choice of occupation depends upon (1) knowledge of self, (2) knowledge of job specifications, and (3) ability to make a proper match between the two. Vocational Personalities and Environments Theory: suggests that people can function and develop best in work environment that are compatible with their personalities. Socioeconomic Theory: This is also known as the chance or accident theory suggesting that many people follow the path of least resistance in their career development by simply falling into whatever work opportunities come their way.

Developmental Theories

Supers Theory: Donald Super recognizes the changes that people go through as they mature. In Supers theory self concept develops through maturity, observations of work, general environment, and general experiences. Decision-Making Theories: suggest that there are critical points in peoples lives when choices (decisions) are made that greatly influence their career development, i.e. educational choices, entry-level job positions, changing jobs, etc.

Cognitive Theories: are built around how individuals process, integrate and react to information. Peoples cognitive structures influence how they see themselves, others and the environment.

Career Stages

What people want from their careers also varies according to the stage of one's career. What may have been important in an early stage may not be important in a later one. Four distinct career stages have been identified: exploration, establishment/ advancement, midcareer, and late career. Each stage represents different career needs and interests of the individual

Exploration and Establishment Stage

Exploration Stage: Until the decision is made to settle down, the individual may try a number of jobs in the first few years. Employees in this stage need opportunities for self-exploration and a variety of job activities or assignments.
Establishment/advancement stage: In this stage, the individual has made his or her career choice and is concerned with achievement, performance, and advancement. This stage is marked by high employee productivity and career growth.

Mid Career Stage

Mid Career stage: The mid-career stage, which occurs roughly between the ages 40 and 50, has also been referred to as the maintenance stage. In this stage the employee is no longer trying to establish a place for himself or herself in the organization, but seeks to maintain their position. This stage is also viewed as a mid-career plateau in which usually, development becomes slow.

Challenges in mid-career stage

Plateauing means that the likelihood of the

employee receiving future job assignments with increased responsibility is low. Mid-career employees in many cases do plateau. Plateauing becomes an obstacle when the employee feels stuck in a job that offers no potential for further growth. Such frustration results in poor job attitude, increased absenteeism, and poor job performance.

Why do Employees Plateau

Discrimination based on age, gender, or race. Lack of potential to handle greater responsibilities. Lack of training. Low achievement motivation. Unfair pay decisions or dissatisfaction with pay raises. Confusion about job responsibilities. Slow company growth resulting in reduced development opportunities.

Late Career Stage

Late-career stage: In this stage the career lessens in importance and the employee plans for retirement and seeks to develop a sense of identity outside the work environment.