Career Management

Descriptions of a career:

• A sequence of positions held within an occupation

• Viewed in the context of mobility within an organisation
• Characteristics of the employee

Definition of Career, D.T. Hall (1986)

A sequence of related work experiences and activities, directed at personal

and organisational goals, through which a person passes during his or her
lifetime, that are partly under their control and partly under that of others.

New concept of career:

Protean career – a career that is frequently changing based on both changes

in the person’s interests, abilities, and values and changes in work
environment. Compared to traditional career, employees here take major
responsibility for managing their careers.

Goal of the new career – psychological success – feeling of pride and

accomplishment that comes from achieving life goals that are not limited
achievements at work.

Types of career patterns

• Expert career
• Spiral career
• Boundaryless career

I.Vencatachellum/HRD/2008 1
Steps and responsibilities in the Career Management Process

Self Reality Goal Action

assessment check Setting Planning

Employee Identify Identify what Identify goal Identify steps

responsibility opportunities needs are and method to and time table
and needs to realistic to determine goal to reach goal
improve develop progress

Company Provide Communicate Insure goal is Identify

responsibility assessment performance specific, resources
information to evaluation challenging, employee
identify ;where and attainable; needs to reach
strengths, employee fits commit to help goal, including
weaknesses, in long-range employee courses, work
interests and plans of the reach the goal experiences,
values company relationships

Organisational Career Management

Covers the various policies and practices, deliberately established by

organisations, to improve the career effectiveness of their employees.

Content of such schemes can vary but they share certain general features:

• establishing what employees want from their careers,

• providing appropriate career opportunities for employees,
• identifying which employees deserve these opportunities,
• then providing them, and
• evaluating the outcomes of career management programmes.

Individual Career Management

The personal efforts made by individuals to advance their own career goals
which may or may not coincide with those their organizations have for them.

The two primary aspects of individual career management are individual

career planning and individual career tactics:

I.Vencatachellum/HRD/2008 2
Individual career planning refers to the process of identifying what one
wants from one's career, assessing one's strengths and weaknesses in relation
to these goals, and deciding what steps need to be taken to realize these
goals in the light of one's own strengths and weaknesses.

Career planning needs to be supported by appropriate tactics for

implementation. Unless individuals are capable of developing and executing
strategies for carrying out their plans, they are unlikely to be successful.
Career tactics involve manipulating the situation in which individuals find
themselves to their own advantage, so that they can successfully realize their
goals.

• Avoid dead end career path

• Ensure visibility and exposure to bosses
• Find a mentor or sponsor to help career in the firm
• Cultivate friendships with influential people for own career outside work
• Actively seek opportunities instead of waiting to be chosen
• Help superiors achieve things important to them

Findings from study by Orpen (1994) revealed six implications for practice
towards career success:

1. Career management on the part of organisations is not the waste of time

some have thought, but that it can lead to more successful careers for
employees, from which the organization itself can benefit, in the form of
harder working and more committed employees.

2. Employees should be formally encouraged to identify what they want

from their careers in the organisation, and decide how to realize these
goals in the light of their own strengths and weaknesses -- i.e. to manage
that part of their careers over which they have control. This may require
employees to be given special training in career planning, for career
tactics to be openly discussed with employees, and for employees to be
rewarded for trying to manage their own careers, instead of leaving their
futures entirely in the hands of the organization.

I.Vencatachellum/HRD/2008 3
3. Crucial ingredients of successful career management are formalized
policies that are perceived as such, which support and encourage
individual employees' self-development efforts and which provide details
about job openings and career paths to all employees. If these features are
seen to be lacking, it is unlikely that employees will feel that their
organisation is fulfilling its part of the "joint responsibility bargain" that
increasing numbers of employees believe should characterise career
management.

4. Giving salary increments and promotions is associated with recipients

feeling they have performed better and, possibly as a result, causing them
to be more satisfied with their careers. This underlines the importance of
accurately identifying employees with the ability and motivation to do
well, and rewarding them.

5. When organizations and individuals share responsibility for the careers of

employees, the employees are likely to have more successful careers,
both objectively and in terms of their career experiences; i.e. not only do
both parties have a responsibility for career management, but, if they
exercise it jointly, both are likely to benefit -- a case of where doing the
right thing is also doing the effective thing.

6. Organisations and individuals can expect their efforts at career

management to have stronger and more positive effects on the subjective
aspects of career effectiveness than on salary growth and promotions.

I.Vencatachellum/HRD/2008 4
Career planning and development (Stone, 1998)

I.Vencatachellum/HRD/2008 5
Both employees and organisations are paying more attention to career
planning:

- employees are increasingly concerned about their quality of life

- educational levels and employee aspirations are rising
- workers are making the transition from vertical careers to lateral careers
- organisations have an increasing sense of obligation to employees

Handy (1996) – “the most valuable thing a business can give its members is
no longer employment but employability, the security of a saleable skill”.

Career management is a joint responsibility, i.e. employee and organisation.

Individual must accept responsibility for their own career development and
the organisation has to play a supportive role in the process.

HR department’s responsibility

Need be fully aware of organisation’s future HR needs to promote career

planning among employees (see HR planning – Career planning and
development diagram). Some actions that HR can undertake:

• career education information

• vocational guidance
• career counselling information
• on the job opportunities and career options
• publicising training and development programmes

Factors for successful career development and growth

1. Performance – fundamental for success since employees who perform

badly are rarely considered for training and development opportunities,
international assignments or promotion.

2. Exposure – employee must be known to senior management, e.g. through

superior performance, report writing, presentations and involvement in
company training and development programmes and social activities.

I.Vencatachellum/HRD/2008 6
3. Employer reputation – ‘star’ reputation as breeding grounds for high
potential employees. Getting a job wit the right company can be a
critical factor in career success and long term employability.

4. Mentor – successful managers usually have a mentor or sponsor who

helps advance their career by offering advice, giving instruction and
opening up career opportunities

5. Ingratiation – Effective career strategy when associated with competence.

Ingratiating behaviour includes doing favours for the target person
(usually the superior), agreeing with his or her opinions, using praise and
flattery, and persuading the target one’s positive qualities and good
intentions.

6. Development – Ongoing expansion of skills and knowledge makes an

employee more valuable and more attractive to the organisation. Self
development also overcomes the problems of career plateuaing and
professional obsolescence.

7. International experience – Broaden experience, skills, knowledge and

employability, i.e. more career opportunities, in times of global
businesses.

8. Language skills – Internationalisation of business and development of

global business centres demand that fast track managers possess
multilingual abilities.

9. Networking – Contacts who are likely to be useful to the employee career

development. Maintaining friendships and keeping visible - “let people
know who you are and what you are doing” process. Should be regarded
as an ongoing life time project, requiring consistent effort and
commitment.

10.Goal setting – Goal directed career planners are the most successful
individuals since they have a purpose, a sense of direction and
achievement.

I.Vencatachellum/HRD/2008 7
I.Vencatachellum/HRD/2008 8
Career plateau

Refers to that point in an employee’s career at which the probability of an

additional promotion is minimal. Progression up the hierarchy stopped,
employees find themselves blocked and unable to achieve further
advancement.

Employee plateauing can be detrimental to both individual and organisation

since it can destroy motivation, allegiance, commitment and productivity of
those employees who have been successful.

Two plateauing concepts:

"Position" plateauing - the shortage of rungs on an employee's promotional
ladder. This is the absence -- temporary or prolonged -- of upward mobility,
I.e. no apparent prospect for significant increases in pay, status, title, formal
power or corporate perks. In terms of the employee's position on the
organization chart, he/she is plateaued.
"Contribution" plateauing - stagnation in terms of personal growth.
Employee is not learning or developing competencies, and his/her ability to
add value can’t help but taper off.

Position Plateauing Contribution Plateauing

Happens to everyone, sooner or
Doesn’t have to happen to anyone
later
Individuals have little control Individuals have almost total
over the forces that create position control over the forces that lead to
plateauing contribution plateaus
If this happens to you, you can If you let this happen to you, your
still be a valued employee. Accept value will decline rapidly. Avoid
it and move on. this at all costs.
Extracted from K.Sandholtz, 'Are you in danger of plateauing?', CareerJournal.com (accessed 2007)

Tactics to tackle position plateauing – A Five steps:

1. Get clear on your career goals - Figure out how important vertical
advancement is to you.
2. Get the facts. Assuming your motives are pure, the next step is to find
out where you stand. Ask your manager for his or her honest opinion

I.Vencatachellum/HRD/2008 9
 of your advancement prospects and whether you’d be a strong
candidate.
3. Decide where your limits are. How committed are you to finding a
ladder to climb? If the prospects aren’t good in your immediate area,
are you willing to transfer to a different department? How about
relocating to another site? Would you consider returning to school for
an additional degree? Ultimately, are you prepared to leave the
company to gain a promotion elsewhere?
4. Don’t personalize it. Position plateauing happens to everyone. It’s a
fact of life -- like death and taxes. And in most cases, it’s not anyone’s
fault. Stalling in your career probably isn’t an indictment of your
talents, energies or commitment (unless you’re also contribution
plateaued). If you feel you did something wrong, stop.
5. Keep contributing. Whether your goal is to move up or laterally or
stay put, heed this advice above all else: Be a top contributor.
Countless examples exist of people who reach mid-career and realize
they can’t go further. At first, it’s a blow. Their natural reaction is to
ask, "What did I do wrong?" But once they come to terms with the
reality, they move on to make valuable and satisfying contributions.

Contribution plateaus can be less visible but more damaging than stalling at
a certain level. You can stop advancing without losing your ability to
contribute. Not so in reverse: If an employee stops being valuable, it’s
almost guaranteed that he or she won’t rise much further. Fortunately,
contribution plateauing is avoidable. In fact, many employees never reach
this point. They find ways to keep learning and growing, regardless of the
jobs they hold.
Evaluate/diagnose two aspects of your current job:
1. How interested you are in what you’re doing. If there’s nothing you’d
rather spend your professional time on, you’re at the high end of the
interest scale. If you’d rather have root canal than do your assigned
work, you’re at the low end. You decide where you fit between these
two extremes.
2. Your level of ability relative to your work. Do people in the company
view you as an expert? If so, put yourself at the high end of the ability
scale. The low end would be defined as, "I don’t have the skills to
excel at my job."

I.Vencatachellum/HRD/2008 10
Action Steps at Different Career Stages

Quadrant A Quadrant B Quadrant C Quadrant D

High
Low ability/high High ability/low Low ability/low
ability/high
interest interest interest
interest
Find ways to Move to a
Enjoy yourself
Assess your renew your different
(but realize it
skills to discover interest (i.e. role department or a
won’t last
your gaps development, a job outside the
forever)
new project) company
Be rigorous
Take action to Explore about seeking
Make a plan to
keep learning potential job assignments that
fill the skill gaps
and growing moves will rekindle
your spark
Document your
Find a mentor or Make a lasting contribution and
a coach contribution what you’ve
learned
Learn as much Leverage your
as you can as own
fast as you can marketability

To avoid plateauing, critical for employee to have ability to adapt and

develop in the face of change or transition.

How to address career plateaus

Strategies for employees

• Develop special expertise

• Ask for specific feedback
• Increase visibility and reputation in the organisation
• Look for what’s missing in your job and try to change it
• Seek training and skill upgrading
• Build networks in other departments and divisions
• Look for opportunities outside of work

I.Vencatachellum/HRD/2008 11
Strategies for managers

• Redesign jobs to create more flexibility

• Encourage or recommend new ways of doing tasks
• Give people time to learn on the job
• Give candid feedback
• Provide opportunities for peer coaching
• Provide training and skill-upgrading opportunities
• Provide exposure for all your people, not just for the stars
• Give non-monetary recognition
• Build strong networks across the organisation
• Make more use of project teams

Strategies for organisations

• Create generalists
• Pay for performance
• Base career paths on skill and mastery
• Set up on-rotation programmes to create lateral movement and
broaden skills
• Work to change the organisational structure
• Provide sabbaticals
• Provide access and opportunity for mentoring
• Recognise employees for their experience and knowledge, not just for
time on the job
• Use line people as instructors in programmes
• Set up communication channels to ask plateaued employees what
would motivate them

References

Harrison, R. (1997), Employee Development, IPD:London.

Orpen, C. (1994), ‘The effects of organisational and individual career

management on career success’, International Journal of Manpower,
15.1, 27-38.

I.Vencatachellum/HRD/2008 12
Sandholtz, K. 'Are you in danger of plateauing?', CareerJournal.com,
accessed 14.12.2007.

Stone, J. (1998), Human Resource Management, Wiley&Sons:Australia.

I.Vencatachellum/HRD/2008 13