HRM Cap Nine CAREER PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER NINE
CAREER PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
9.0 Chapter Outline

9.1 Learning Objectives----------------------------------------------------------------------2
9.2 Introduction---------------------------------------------------------------------------------3
9.3 What is a Career?------------------------------------------------------------------------3
9.4 What is Career Planning?--------------------------------------------------------------3
9.5 Benefits of Career Planning------------------------------------------------------------6
9.6 Employee Concern in Career Planning---------------------------------------------7
9.7 Human Resources Department in Career Planning----------------------------16
9.8 What is Career Development?------------------------------------------------------17
9.9 Objectives of Career Development-------------------------------------------------18
9.10 The Career Development Programme-------------------------------------------20
9.11 Stages of Career Development----------------------------------------------------24
9.12 Modern Career Development Practices-----------------------------------------25
9.13 Career Development for Special Employee Groups-------------------------26
9.14 HRM in Practice-----------------------------------------------------------------------27
9.15 Progress Questions-------------------------------------------------------------------29
9.16 Notes and References---------------------------------------------------------------30
Chapter 09: Career Planning and Development 2
9.1 Learning Objectives
After you have studied this chapter, you will be able to:
(1) Define the term career.

(2) Outline the component steps of a career plan.
(3) Discuss the advantages of career planning.
(4) Discuss the role of the human resources department in career planning.
(5) Explain the main objectives of a career development programme.
(6) Outline the component activities of a career development programme.
(7) Discuss the management practices, which characterise an organisation that
implements a career development programme.
9.2 Introduction
Employees in work organisations are interested in how they can make their future
within the purview of their careers. They are specifically interested in issues like career
paths, promotion decisions and procedures, career counselling, and the benefits derivable
from their organisations' training and development programmes. i But for the employer and
the employee to be able to provide the right answers to these issues, they require a basic
understanding of career planning and development.
Both the employer and the employee are worried about career planning and career
development, not without good reasons. As Robbins puts it, "Good employees do not always
stay good employees! Their skills can deteriorate, technology may make their skills obsolete;
the organisation may move into new areas, changing the type of jobs that exist and the skills
necessary to do them".ii Similarly good employers do not always remain good employers,
lots of things may happen that disturb the implementation of the employees' career plans.
The external environment also, may have its own role in disturbing career plans.
In this chapter we will discuss the preparation of employee career plans and the
management of viable career development programmes in work organisations.
9.3 What is a Career?
A career can be defined as a sequence of all job positions, which a person occupies
during the course of his or her lifetime. In this sense, a career refers to a history of the
different job positions a person holds over his or her entire work life.
The term career development is used in behavioural science literature to refer to a

pattern of systematic advancement in a given occupation, i.e. a career ladder, or a career path.
For example, in the university teaching profession, the general career path starts with a
teaching assistant, assistant lecturer, lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor, and
professor.iii
9.4 What is Career Planning?
Career planning is a process of enabling employees to select career goals and paths to
those goals. It is a process of identifying future job positions that serve as sequential
benchmarks in an employee's career. An increasing number of human resources
departments today, view career planning as an effective approach of meeting their internal
staffing objectives.iv The employee strives to reach these benchmarks in the course of his or
her work life in the organisation.
For some people, the different jobs they hold or will hold on their career path is a
result of careful planning and a systematic implementation of their plans. For some, the jobs
they held in life are a result of luck that miraculously comes their way. Whereas career
planning is not a guarantee of career success, it is an approach, which most systematic people
rely upon for success. Unsystematic people rely mainly upon luck for their success. For an
employee to benefit from career planning he or she must complement it with good
performance, relevant experience, and training. All the three are in effect opportunities,
which the employer is looked upon to provide.
A typical career plan consists of the following nine major steps:v
(1) Establish the base status of the career you wish to plan.
The first step in career planning is to establish the base status of the career you wish
to plan. This step gives the planner an understanding of the what is to be planned, as well as
the base situation. This step includes the understanding of the following facts about the
career:
(a) Current career path. A career path is a sequence of job positions through which
employees move as they advance in their career. For instance, in the accounting career, the
career path consists of the following stations or levels of responsibility: accounts assistant,
assistant accountant, accountant, senior accountant, chief accountant. The different stations
along the career path are called career stations or levels of responsibility, which people aspire
to achieve as they rise in a given profession. So, in the above example, accounts assistant,
assistant accountant, accountant etc. are career stations.
The understanding of a person’s career path involves the determination of the person’s
progressive career stations in a given profession as well as any alternative paths they may
branch off to, during the life span of their employment.
(b) The alternative paths related to jobs to which a person can branch off in an attempt to
develop himself or herself by assuming more interesting and more challenging
responsibilities in the work organisation. A well-designed career plan should accommodate
the possibility that ambitious, trainable employees may wish to acquire the access
qualifications, which enable them to change from their career path to another which is longer
or taller, and where the advancement rate is higher. For instance, the career path of
secretarial work is short (i.e. the difference between the lowest salary and the highest salary is
relatively small), and the advancement rate (i.e. the salary increments) is comparatively lower
than that of the administration work. So, an ambitious and hard working personal secretary
can, after gaining the necessary experience, and training be promoted to perform some
administrative or human resources jobs, which are more challenging jobs and which carry
higher rewards and responsibilities.
(c) The access criteria for each level e.g. the entry educational and or skill
qualifications, experience, for entering each level.
(a) The length or height, and speed along the desired career path(s). The length of a career
path has two alternative dimensions: first, the number of years it takes an employee to
move from the lowest to the highest career position on the career path. Most capable
employees aspire to belong to career paths, which take them as few years as possible to
reach the end or top. Secondly, the length of a career path refers to the salary range
between the entry point and the highest point on a career path. Different career paths
have different salary ranges: some are wide, some are narrow. Career paths with wide
salary ranges attract the aspiration of most capable employees.
100 Sen. Admin.

Manager
85 Administrative
Manager
65 Senior Admin.
Officer
50 Administrative
Officer
40 Senior Clerical
40 Pers.
Officer
Secretary
35 Stenographer 30 Clerical Officer
27 Senior Typist 25 Asst. Clerical Officer
20 Typist
Career Path for Secretarial Career

Staff Career Path for Career
Path for a
Administrative Staff Path
cleaner
for ceo
Figure 9-1: The concept of a career path
(2) Establish realistic career objectives for the cadre of employees in the career. This
process entails establishing short- and medium-term career objectives as an easy way
of arriving at the long-term objectives, which are the main target of career planning.
Career
Path for a
cleaner
(3) Go back to 1(a) and 1(b) and determine where the employee currently stands in
relation to his or her career objectives, plus his or her current level of education, skills,
experience.
(4) Determine the desired career position on the conventional career path and determine
the desired alternative path 1(c) if any. The desired career position on the career path
is the highest position, which the employee will strive to occupy on the career path.
This is the employee's secret dream.
(5) Evaluate each career position on the desired career path(s) by defining the access or
entry criteria discussed in 1(b) above up to the distant long-term desired position.
(6) Develop a plan of action that will enable the employee to systematically work towards
the achievement of this distant objective. The plan of action should clearly indicate
the activities to be performed, training, timing, and who is responsible for
implementation.
(7) Start implementing the plan of action.
(8) Evaluate the implementation of the plan of action at punctuated stages to discern and
remove any bottlenecks, and ensure that implementation remains on course.
(9) Take corrective action on any bottlenecks discerned by the evaluation. The corrective
action taken necessitates reverting to earlier stages of the plan in order to ensure
coherence and viability.
9.6 Benefits of Career Planning
Another heading for this section is: why career planning? The following are the main
benefits of having a well-performed career planning function in an organisation:
(1) Internal supply market.
Career planning helps to develop the internal supply of promotable employees. As

will have been noted, a career plan is necessarily closely related to the training and
development programme: it is the training programme that enables employees to qualify for
progression on their career paths. We are saying here, that career planning commits the
organisation to training and development efforts, which develop employee skills and qualify
them for advancement in their careers.
(2) Employee development.
Career planning motivates employees to grow and develop themselves more

systematically in one organisation. Employees have opportunities of developing along a
known career path or even to branch off to another path for known objectives. Employee
growth and development are thus easier to motivate and guide with a clear career plan.
(3) Employee retention and work force stability.
Career planning makes employees know where they are heading to, and therefore
increases their attention to, and concern for their careers, which boosts hard work, loyalty,
sense of responsibility and accountability, and thus results into lower employee turnover.
(4) Utilisation of employee potential.
Career planning enables employees to utilise their full potential because of clear
career goals.
(5) Satisfaction of employee needs.
Career planning facilitates systematic employee growth and development and thus
satisfaction of their esteem and self-actualisation needs. In this way career planning
contributes significantly to job satisfaction.
9.7 Employee Concern in Career Planning
In section 9.5 we discussed the benefits of career planning to the work organisation.
Let us vary the discussion to an outline of what employees actually expect to see out of a
well-managed career planning function.vi
(1) Career Equity
A well-managed human resources planning function means that the organisation can
place people in accordance with their respective abilities, compensate and promote them
according to their respective performance, and thus ensure equitable advancement
opportunities.
(2) Fair Appraisal
Employees want their management to be alert i.e. watch individual performance

initiative, appraise it objectively, and award career advancement opportunities to all those
who deserve them.
(3) Management Concern
Employees want their management to develop interest in the career advancement of

individual employees and to perform the obligation which management should play to ensure
the planning and implementation of employee career advancement. Employees loose hope of
career development when an inadequately interested management victimises training and
development programmes for cost cutting, and thus frustrates the operationalisation of career
plans.
(4) Transparency
Employees want to be actively involved in planning their career development and to

be informed of career advancement opportunities that exist in their organisation.
(5) Target of Individual Interests
Employees have unique interests in career development, which they wish

management to recognise and target, if career advancement is to have an achievement and
thus motivating value. A wholesale and insufficiently differentiated approach to career
development similar to what the civil service does in many African countries is not
adequately appealing.
(6) Career Satisfaction

As we note later in this chapter, employees depending on their age, sex, education, and
occupations, have varying levels of career satisfaction which they want sharply targeted by
the organisation’s career planning and development efforts.
(7) Career Planning in Intra-organisational Movements
Employee movements in the work organisation viz. transfer; job recategorisations,

promotions, and demotions call for careful planning because they affect employee career life.
The employer may at its own initiative assign employees to new positions in order to fill
vacancies, reduce labour costs, or place employees in jobs that are more appropriate to their
interests and abilities. Employee movements can also result from their own initiatives. They
may seek reassignments as their interests, problems, and capabilities develop and change. In
both cases, matching individual needs for growth and development with the needs of the
organisation becomes a major goal of the career planning process. Inadequate or shortsighted
attention to employee movements can have negative effects on their morale and productivity
on the one hand, and on the other, it can seriously impair the organisation’s ability to attain
its objectives and survive. Let us now proceed to explore the career planning function in
each intra-organisational movement.
(a) Promotions
As we noted in chapter five, a promotion is in effect a transfer involving the

reassignment of an employee to a position that is likely to offer higher remuneration, greater
responsibilities, privileges, and potential opportunities. In general, the objective of a
promotion is to staff a vacant position that is worth more to the organisation than the
employee’s current position – the additional worth usually reflected in the form of additional
pay, privileges, and potential opportunities for the position.
It is important for the organisation to consider what a promotion will mean to an

employee. Sometimes a promotion is offered to an employee, who considers it a demotion or
a step backward in his or her career. An example is an OB lecturer, who in addition to
lecturing, works on a number of well-paid consultancy assignments for industry and has no
interest in administration. If the university promotes the lecturer to the directorship of the
university’s consultancy bureau, the new job would not meet the career tastes of the lecturer
and because it would reduce the lecturer’s involvement in consultancy, it is likely to be
perceived as a demotion or an undesired decision.
Practice in unionised organisations is characterised by a conflictual orientation to

promotions between labour unions and employers. Labour unions tend to support labour
contracts that require that seniority, or an employee’s length of service with the organisation
be an important consideration in the making of promotion decisions. Employers on the other
hand tend to support contracts that favour ability as an important consideration in the making
of promotion decisions, arguing that in comparison with seniority, ability is what the
organisation requires to be able to produce and survive. Practices in this respect vary a great
deal from organisation to organisation, with many examples where the employers and the
unions settle for a middle position and thus use a formula for promotion decisions respecting
both seniority and ability as important promotion criteria.
Probably the last problem with promotion decisions is that the organisation must
continue a productive relationship with those employees who are not promoted. Some of
these employees may feel that fairness has not been done to them. Fair and consistent
implementation procedures for making promotion decisions will help reduce negative
feelings of employees that have not been promoted. Some of the tools of making promotion
decisions that could be used in order to minimise ill-feelings of unpromoted employees
include: career ladders, succession ladders, interviewing, testing, peer ratings, assessment
centres, and fallback positions. Let us discuss the seven tools briefly.
(i) Career ladders

Career ladders are charts that illustrate the vertical and even horizontal movement of
employees from one job position to another and even from one job to another within the
organisation. We have stated in a relevant section in this chapter, that career ladders are
constructed with the participation of the employees. They thus help employees visualise
potential advancement opportunities in their organisation and to plan the sequence of training
and work experience necessary to achieve the particular career objectives outlined in the
ladders.
(ii) Succession ladders

When administered with transparency, succession plans or ladders inform both
management and employees which employees are earmarked for promotion to designated
positions. They can thus conveniently be used for making uncontroversial promotion
decisions.
(iii) Assessment centres

The management sends information about an employee’s promotability and career
development to the assessment centre. The centre then conducts its own tests and interviews
in order to determine a list of promotable employees to be recommended to the organisation.
The centre may conduct interviews, tests of mental ability, and skill in reasoning, discussions
focused on selected themes, presentations, and simulations. The assessment centre concept
appears to be an effective though expensive approach for the selection and promotion of
managerial personnel in Tanzanian work organisations.
There are three important benefits of involving assessment centres in promotion

decisions. First, assessment centres provide feedback to the candidates and thus minimise
their frustration stemming from lack of information about results. Secondly assessment
centres are impartial, and finally they have an opportunity to provide professional advice to
the organisation.
(iv) Application for Promotion and Interviewing
The organisation subjects all candidates earmarked for promotion to an application for
promotion and interview. This procedure allows potential candidates to express interest in
higher-level job opportunities and gives management an opportunity to evaluate them for
promotion. Like in the case of the recruitment process, a wide variety of interview
approaches may be used to make promotion decisions. For instance one manager may
interview a candidate or several managers in a series of one-on-one sessions may interview
him or her. On the basis of interview results a selection is done for employees to be
promoted. It is useful to remember that interviewing is subject to legal challenge if
discrimination or adverse impact is alleged.vii
(v) Testing
Like in the interviewing tool, the organisation subjects all candidates earmarked for
promotion to testing. On the basis of test results a selection is done for suitable employees to
be promoted. It is useful to remember that testing is subject to legal challenge if
discrimination or adverse impact is alleged.
(vi) Peer ratings

Peer ratings are the evaluation of an employee’s performance or potential for
advancement by fellow employees of equal ranks. Research has shown that peer ratings tend
to be fairly accurate predictors of supervisory or managerial success.viii Unfortunately, peer
ratings are not popular for making promotion decisions in Tanzanian work organisations.
(vii) Fallback positions

A fallback position is a job position that carries the same status and remuneration as
the promoted employee’s original position. It is used for transferring employees that are not
promoted for some reasons and would otherwise feel bad.
In practice, one or more positions in the job family that have the same status and pay
as the promoted employee’s original position are identified in advance of the promotion
season. When the promotion is unsuccessful, the employee is transferred to the fallback
position. This procedure lets everyone know three things: first, that there is some risk in the
promotion or transfer, secondly, that the company is willing to accept some of the
responsibility for the risk, and thirdly, that moving into the fallback position does not
constitute failure after all.ix
(viii) Demotions
A demotion, which is sometimes called a “downward transfer”, involves a transfer
from a position of a higher status to that of a lower status accompanied by a cut in pay, status,
privilege, opportunities, etc. A demotion is in many cases a shock to the affected employee
and it brings about the kinds of reactions associated with a career crisis to the employee. A
demotion is by definition a decision, where the organisation is avoiding losing an employee,
for some reason. This definition implies that although a demotion demoralises the employee,
organisations should handle it with care and prevent it from disrupting the work morale of the
affected employee and sometimes that of his or her colleagues.
Normally, demotions result from organisational staff downsizing and disciplinary

penalties. If demotions arise out of disciplinary penalties, the organisation should neutralise
their effect on the employee when the stipulated disciplinary period elapses, so that relations
are reinstated to normalcy.
In some cases, demotions could be mutual arrangements arising from an employee’s
health problems or changing interests.
(a) Transfers
A transfer is a reassignment from one job to another, one department or section to
another or one geographical location to another, usually not involving increase in pay. A
transfer can be initiated by the employer or by the employee. Transfers that are initiated by
employers could disturb employees’ work life and for this reason they must be planned
carefully.
Most work organisations have specific transfer policies and procedures that have been
developed mainly in response to four main problem situations. First, employees are
transferred if they have a history of poor performance or poor behaviour. These are
employees, whose bosses would not like to keep. If an organisation does not develop definite
rules about such transfers these employees could be transferred from place to place in a kind
of organisational game of musical chairs. Most organisations discourage their managers from
transferring problem employees, because transferring a problem employee is shifting a
problem from one place to another. The most appropriate course of action, which is helpful
to both the employee and the employer, is to redress the problem employee.
The second problem situation is that an employee is transferred in order to match his
or her performance capabilities with job demands. Before any transfer is made, careful
appraisal of employees’ knowledge, skills, experience, and attitude ought to be made to make
certain that the employees’ performance capabilities suit the new job. The human resources
department should help other departments to develop thorough appraisal procedures and then
monitoring transfers to ensure that supervisors are actually using those procedures
appropriately.
The third problem is cost. Transfers cost money in terms of house searching trips,
packing, transport and travel to the new station, temporary living arrangements etc. Transfer
or relocation costs for an employee and his or her family can be high. Work organisations
thus give careful consideration to the merits and drawbacks involved in each transfer
decision. Employers are at liberty to choose which costs to meet in respect of transfers
initiated by employees.
The fourth problem situation is the dual career couple, i.e. a situation where both
spouses are employed. When one spouse faces the possibility of relocation, the couple must
make difficult choices. The burning issues include: whether a suitable position exists at the
new station, whether schooling facilities exist at the new station, who will take care of the
couple’s house and probably family business if any at the old station. If the right answers to
these issues cannot be found, the transferred spouse turns down the transfer, and must face
penalties from the employer. Refusing a transfer could carry the penalty of summary
dismissal in Tanzania, because the employer has the right to deploy labour where he or she
wishes. Transferring one spouse is also a challenge to the employer. . When one spouse is
transferred a position for the other spouse must be found at the new station. These problems
are arising more frequently in organisations as an increasing number of women are being
employed.
(b) Re-categorisations
A job re-categorisation is similar to a transfer. It often involves the physical
relocation of an employee and carries the obligation for paying relocation costs, if the
employee does not request it. It is advisable that job re-categorisations be done with the
consent of affected employees and their labour union, otherwise, they could lead employees
to see less meaning in their work, be demoralised, and leave the organisation on the one hand,
and job re-categorisations could be a cause for poor union-employer relations.
(8) Career Planning in Employee Exit
Another important career transition that calls for careful management is that involving
the separation of employees from the work organisation. Employees may leave the
organisation either voluntarily or involuntarily. Employees leave their organisations
voluntarily, through resignations and retirements. They also leave their organisations through
decisions made by their employers, i.e. through layoffs and discharge. In either case, the
reasons leading to employee separation should be carefully analysed and understood in terms
of their impact on the individual employees and on the work organisation. An unexpected
removal of an employee from the organisation can disrupt the life of the affected employee
and it can damage the morale of his or her colleagues and the organisation’s image. Even if
the employee initiates the separation, the organisation must continue functioning until the job
opening is filled. In this section, we will discuss briefly the different approaches of managing
employee exit under resignation, retirement, layoff, and discharge.
(1) Resignation
Employee resignation is the voluntary separation of an employee from the work

organisation. Although sometimes a resignation becomes an opportunity for the
organisations to get rid of a bad employee, other resignations are cases where the
organisation loses the investment it made in recruiting, training and developing the departing
employees. For these reasons, managers must view resignations seriously, and handle them
with care. It is advised that resignations be analysed for their implications in the
organisation. The following three measures are recommended.
(a) Rates of Turnover
A rate of turnover is calculated as the ratio of separations to total work force during a
given period and attempts to maintain it within reasonable proportions. We have already
stated in our orientation and placement chapter that if properly conducted an orientation
programme can help reduce turnover. But practice has revealed that some of the problems
that give rise to employee turnover emanate from employee dissatisfaction with the
organisation, the work environment, as well as from individual managers. Analysis and
proactive address of problems relating to employee dissatisfaction can help contain rates of
turnover in reasonable proportions.
(b) Exit Interviews
Exit interviews are conducted by either the human resources department or its
representative, and are intended to determine reasons for excessive turnover of employees in
a section, department, directorate, or organisation. In addition to determining reasons for
employee exit, exit interviews are used to ensure that leaving employees have returned
organisational property entrusted to them, and that leaving employees actually understand the
disposition of various benefit programmes in which they were members.
(c) Post-employment Surveys
Some organisations argue, that responses obtained from separated employees a few
weeks after the event may be more valid than those obtained at the time of departure. Both in
cases of exit interviews and those of post-employment surveys, supervisors are known to be
defensive about any criticism levelled against their performance, arguing that nothing better
could be expected of a departing employee. In both cases it would be useful to obtain the
information and analyse it objectively, in the hope that it could provide a useful pointer to the
source for excessive employee turnover.
(2) Retirement
Retirement is the separation of older employees from the organisation in accordance

with the labour law of the land.x Retirement allows an ageing employee to pursue other
career interests outside the work organisation and to open up career opportunities for other
employees.
Retirement is a difficult separation method. It involves a radical change in the

employee’s lifestyle and brings to an end a number of meaningful relationships and
experiences, which the employee has built over time. In order to minimise the effects of such
a sudden change of lifestyle most employers nowadays introduce remedial programmes that
prepare employees to meet the challenges of their retirement times. Such programmes
include activities such as pre-retirement seminars to discuss retirement problems and
opportunities, individual and group counseling and educational newsletters and magazines
written especially for employees of pre-retirement age.
(3) Layoff
A layoff is a temporary or indefinite removal of employees from the payroll. The

general purpose of a layoff is to rid the organisation of the burden of excess labour power that
cannot be used effectively. Layoffs become necessary under conditions when the amount of
work is small in comparison to the number of employees employed.
Layoffs usually affect small groups of employees in organisations that are

restructuring for efficiency. Organisations in Tanzania at the turn of the last century made
layoffs as they rationalised their support functions in a strategic effort to sharpen their focus
on their mission-related functions instead of spreading it thin over many support functions,
which could be procured from specialised organisations in the economy. Examples of layoffs
that affected small groups of employees at the University of Dar es Salaam included security
guards, cafeteria personnel, cleaners and others.
In some cases management acts too fast to lay off employees because of poor market
dynamics and the impending financial downturn. This action has the unfortunate effect of
scaring and eventually depleting the organisation’s best employees in the long run, and
damaging the morale and security of the employees that remain. In other cases however,
layoffs could be the only viable option for an organisation facing possible bankruptcy. It is
important to underscore at this stage, that layoffs can be either temporary or permanent.
Although in many Tanzanian organisations layoffs normally affect junior employees,

layoffs should be looked at as an objective approach of right-sizing the labour force in order
to match available and foreseeable amounts of work. If looked at in this context, it will be
easy to understand why layoffs could affect managerial personnel as well. When non-
managerial personnel is laid off organisations basing on their financial clout and public image
pay a number of benefits to help affected employees. These benefits include:
(a) Accrued and accumulated vacation pay and passage.

(b) Supplemental unemployment benefits (SUB).
(c) Continued health and life insurance to affected staff and families particularly if the
layoff is temporary.
(d) Severance pay i.e. a lump sum paid at the time of permanent separation and normally
to non-unionised employees.
(e) The “golden parachutes” i.e. fat benefit payments for members of top management.
An example where a golden parachutes can be really golden is the chief executive of
Revlon who was paid USD 34 million when the cosmetics and health care company
was taken over by Pantry Pride.xi
In unionised organisations, labour contracts govern the procedure to be used in laying

off employees, payments to be made, as well as recalling them. Seniority is usually the
controlling factor i.e. the most senior employee is the last to be laid off and the first to be
recalled. Another name for this arrangement is known as the “reverse seniority rule”.
Another provision that may be stipulated in the labour contract is “bumping”. Bumping is a
provision that permits senior employees to be placed on positions of junior employees that
are laid off. The workability of these provisions ought to be considered in the context of
latest developments in technology and the realities of the labour market in developing
countries.
(4) Summary Dismissal
A summary dismissal, also called a discharge, firing, or termination, is a management

action, which causes an employee to be separated from the work organisation for violating
rules, procedures, or for unsatisfactory performance. A common example of a dismissal for
violation of a rule or procedure is violation of safety regulations such as smoking in
prohibited areas.
A discharge is normally an immediate and traumatic experience for the affected

employee, his or her family, and remaining employees. For this reason, most managers are
extremely reluctant to dismiss an employee until it is absolutely necessary, and there are
substantial and well-documented reasons for such a decision. In order to avoid dismissal
cases, timely warnings and effective supervisory involvement in correcting discipline
problems can eliminate the need for dismissal decisions. In addition, many Tanzanian work
organisations require that a higher authority review each dismissal case before a final
decision is reached. Where a dismissal case becomes difficult to avoid, managers in
Tanzania would rather the case is negotiated into a “voluntary retirement”.
In principle, an employer does have the right to dismiss or lay off employees for
legitimate reasons. Thus, employees can justifiably be dismissed for the following general
reasons:
(a) Persistent unsatisfactory performance i.e. poor productivity, poor quality of work.
(b) Violation of safety rules.
(c) Unauthorised absence from duty.
(d) Inability to perform duties.
(e) Refusal of work instructions.

(f) Violation of organisational policies.
Managers’ failure to observe the above reasons normally leads dismissed employees
to challenge the decisions in courts of law under many excuses and sometimes allowable
reasons. To avoid such challenges, managers are advised to do the following:
(a) Maintain good records of unsatisfactory performance.

(b) Keep all employees informed about the quality of their performance, and document
all advice given for correction of behaviour.xii
(c) Communicate to all employees the organisational structure, and job descriptions.
(d) Provide deficient performers reasonable opportunities to improve. Maintain
documented record of frequency for such opportunities, their nature and tenure.
(e) Communicate to all employees all company policies and rules governing employee
behaviour.
(f) Maintain consistency in disciplining employees.xiii
9.8 Human Resources Department in Career Planning
Modern human resources departments should take active interest and be involved in
career planning for their employees due to the benefits and concerns discussed in the previous
two sections. Unfortunately, the subject of career planning is still a neglected function of
human resources management in most African countries. This claim is evident in the
minimal concern employers show for systematic training, motivation, and comprehensive
career planning in some parts of Africa. Many of our work organisations still recruit without
human resources plans, train whoever and whenever they wish, promote whoever they wish,
and live with no clear career plans for their employees.xiv
Human resources departments should find it easy to handle career planning if they
make comprehensive human resources planning. The human resources plans show the
organisation's future recruitment needs. In addition, the human resources department controls
the human resources database, which contains the different job-related information, as well as
employee data. The human resources department prepares and manages the human resources
training and development programme. This information and the steps of preparing a career
plan discussed under section 8.03 above should enable the human resources department to
prepare and manage a viable career plan for its employees.
Ideally, all managers ought to take interest and be involved in their employees' career
plans and development. A boss who is interested in his or her subordinates' career plans
shows care and liking for his or her subordinates. The reality however, is that many
managers find career planning too involving for them and would rather leave it to the human
resources department. But leaving it to the human resources department assumes that the
human resources department has sufficient experts to do career planning on the one hand, and
that the human resources department enjoys sufficient top management support to prepare
career planning programmes and implement them faithfully. But judging by the poor staffing
of many of our human resources departments and the general top management perception of
human resources management in our work organisations as discussed in chapter one, leaving
the career planning and development to the “right department” will certainly not improve the
status of career planning in our work organisations.
Due to the personal nature of career planning and development to employees, one
would expect employees to show, not necessarily expertise, but adequate interest in planning
and developing their careers. But unfortunately very few employees show adequate
knowledge of career planning. Very often employees are unaware of the need for and
advantages of career planning. If they are made aware, they often lack the necessary
information to plan their careers successfully.xv Career planning is admittedly, a technically
demanding task that not everyone can like and do well. But where the interested parties show
adequate interest career, planning of some quality can be done so that employees know how
their career life and progression in the organisation is configured.
The human resources department has a duty to educate both employees and managers
about career planning, and to get them to develop interest in this important area to both of
them. This suggestion can be accomplished through using such approaches as workshops,
seminars, and meetings involving large numbers of employees.xvi
9.9 What is Career Development?
Career development refers to a process of activities performed in order to implement

career plans. The human resources department may sponsor these activities or they could be
activities undertaken by individual employees in the work organisation.
Like career planning, career development is no easy task. Careers vary widely within
a single organisation, and from organisation to organisation, so it is not possible for human
resources experts to design a universal career path to be used for all careers or for all
organisations. Such universal career path would not manage to accommodate the specific
and unique preferences of individual employees, and is simply non-existent.
Large organisations possess the capability to develop formal and elaborate career
development programmes for all their work force. They are capable of doing this due to their
ability to carry human resources departments that have adequate and qualified staff for this
purpose. Other organisations particularly small ones do not have any, or can only afford
informal career development programmes. In the informal approach, a serious manager
interviews the employees and gets to know them as individuals. The manager then discusses
the employees' career aspirations with them, and assists them to develop individual career
plans. This could be accomplished as part of the performance appraisal interview, but it can
also be accomplished through informal interactions between employees and their bosses.
9.10 Who are involved in career development?

In practice, three persons are necessary for the effective planning and development of
an employee's career: the employee, the supervisor, and the human resources specialist. xvii
The role of the employee is to help the human resources specialist, and the supervisor to help
him or her work out a career plan and develop it to reality by performing his or her
obligations as outlined in section 9.9. The supervisor should help the employee perform their
jobs and satisfy the prescribed conditions for their career advancement. On his or her part,
the human resources specialist should help by asking the right questions so that the right
information can come from the employee and the supervisor that will go into the career plan
and assist its realisation. As an independent eye on the employee's performance, the
supervisor should help by offering realistic advice, counselling and sponsorship.
Finally, the work organisation has a responsibility to ensure that the career plan is
implemented appropriately by providing training and development opportunities that equip
the employees with the ability to move along their career paths.
9.11 Objectives of Career Development
A well-designed and implemented career development programme seeks to achieve

the following main objectives:
(1) Employee Development.
The main objective of a well-designed and managed career development programme

is to develop the individual employee along the identified career path(s). In order to ensure
that its employees develop, organisations systematically train employees to equip them with
the, knowledge, skills, and experience that are required to facilitate the employee's movement
along the career path.
Every employee must accept a personal responsibility for career development. It is

not possible to have career progress if the individual does not get involved in developing his
or her career. What the work organisation can do is to help the individual’s efforts in
realising career progress. Once the reality of personal responsibility for career development
is accepted, the following actions are expected from employees as contributions towards the
career development programme. These actions should also be understood as the employer’s
expectations from the employees in order to deserve the employer’s contribution towards the
career development programme.xviii
(a) Job Performance
An employee who performs his or her job effectively and efficiently earns his or her
employer’s recognition and deserves to be developed. Good performers are singled out
through the performance appraisal process and given training and development opportunities
to prepare them for career advancement. Human resources departments should encourage
employees to compete to excel in the performance of their jobs so that they eventually are not
simply “part of the group”, but each can stand out by outdoing his or her colleagues. An
employee’s mere personal desire to advance is not enough; he or she should deserve career
advancement through outstanding job performance. Poor performers do not make enviable
progress in their careers.
(b) Exposure
Employees know well that it is not enough to work hard; they have to become known,
by the organisation’s key officials that make decisions on appraisal, promotions, transfers,
training and development, as well as other career decisions. Exposure can be achieved by
accepting delegated work, showing initiative, not avoiding participation in fora such as
meetings, as well as making calculated appearance to the people that matter. This is the
reason why employees aspire to occupy jobs, which place them centrally in a communication
network, as well as jobs, which give them a critical role in a work process.xix
A centrally placed job position is a job, which is central to vital communication

channels and thus enables the incumbent to control vital information affecting people’s
interests. Employees that occupy such jobs most likely become opinion leaders and
influential in their organisations.
Even more significant than centrality is the criticality of a job. A centrally placed
employee in a work process is non-substitutable. His colleagues and bosses in the
performance of the job, as well as other jobs depend upon him or her. In both centrality and
criticality, the employee is exposed to opportunities of visibility and influence.
(c) Changing Jobs
Many employees are able to advance in their career by consciously leaving one
employer to join another in order to take up a better job i.e. a more responsible job that pays
better, and has more attractive prospects of advancement. Qualified young graduates are
known to use this technique very often until they can get to a comfortable job position. And
it works!
(d) Loyalty
Two kinds of loyalty are noteworthy here: organisational loyalty and professional or
occupational loyalty. Loyalty relates to a career-long dedication to either the occupation or
the organisation. Employees who stick to their occupations and organisations are usually
considered for career advancement because of what some employers call “it is worthwhile
investing in them”.
(e) Discipline
Employees that on top of working hard also observe professional and organisational
rules and procedures place themselves well for being singled out for advancement to higher
jobs.
(f) Key Subordinates
Some employees are key employees to the success of their managers. Such
employees usually possess crucial skills and experience, which are crucial to their managers’
success. As long as key subordinates continue to play their roles well, such employees are
usually recommended for fast career development.
(2) Organisational Effectiveness.
The other objective of career development programmes is to enable the organisation

to achieve its objectives. Making sure that the employees can grow and achieve their
objectives makes this possible. Employees that are satisfied that their organisations help
them attain their personal growth and development, work hard to sustain their organisation's
effectiveness.
(3) Reduced Employee Obsolescence.
A well-designed and managed career development programme ensures that the

employee remains up-to-date and promotable. By ensuring that the employee remains
current in terms of performance capabilities, the organisation deliberately prevents the
employee from being obsolescent.
(4) Reduced Employee Turnover.
A good career development programme enables employees to control their own

careers and their own career advancement. When this objective is achieved, employee work
morale and commitment are raised, and turnover is significantly controlled.
(1) Employee development

(2) Organisational effectiveness
(3) Reduced employee obsolescence
(4) Reduced employee turnover
Fig. 9-2: Objectives of Career Development
9.12 The Career Development Programme
In accordance with our definition of the concept of career development in section 9.8,
a career development programme may be defined as a process of activities that are performed
to implement career plans. Career development programmes comprise the following specific
activities: career counselling, career pathing, training, background and skills inventorying,
and job posting.xx
(1) Career Counselling.
In human resources management, counselling means discussing an employee problem

with him or her with the general objective of helping the employee cope with it. Career
counselling therefore, is the discussing of an employee's career with the employee for
purposes of assisting him or her develop a career plan of his or her liking. Career counselling
is the function of the human resources department, i.e. either by using its own expert, or an
external career counsellor. To be successful, the career counsellor should be a facilitator who
helps employees develop a career plan they can own and be committed to both at the
planning and during the implementation stages.
Employees do not remain firmly committed to their career plan all the time. Their
memberships in other organisations can influence them to lose faith in their earlier plan;
acquisition of technology may make their jobs less significant and less satisfying; the labour
market may change drastically and offer job opportunities whose career path and other details
totally make the employee's current job ridiculous; and the work organisation may move into
a new business area and change both the jobs and the skills required to perform them. The
foregoing few examples go to show that career counselling is a function which the human
resources department may have to revisit fairly frequently in order to ensure that career plans
conform with the necessary developments affecting them.
(2) Career Pathing.
As we have already stated in section 8.4 a career path is a sequence of job positions
through which employees move as they advance in their careers. Career paths are normally
designed as a translation of the organisation's structure. Career paths show the following key
information.
(a) Job title

(b) Job location
(c) Hierarchical sequence of positions in a job
(d) The salary ranges assigned to job positions
(e) The rates of increments, which comprise the range,
(f) The access criteria to each job position.
Career paths are a tool for managing the career development programme. In his
consultancy work in Tanzanian public work organisations in Tanzania, the author often
encountered career paths whose access avenues comprised the following access criteria: "By
promotion of ........... who has completed three years' successful service in that grade.”? Such
access criteria are not performance oriented, and in no way are they useful management tools
in a competitive environment where employees have planned careers and are striving to make
them succeed. How successful should an employee work to be regarded successful? With
such access criteria, it is possible for an employee to remain around doing very little, taking
care not to rock the boat, and yet succeed to be promoted to higher positions, which does not
only rob the organisation, but is totally inequitable and discouraging for the hardworking
employees. xxi
So, in order to succeed to serve as a management tool for career development

programmes, career paths should be skilfully punctuated with hurdles such as a requirement
to attend a prescribed course of study, field attachments, study tours, attainment of a
prescribed level of consistent performance for a number of years, and the production of
evidential output in your area of expertise like universities require their instructors to do.
Only in this way can employees earn and justify their stay in work organisations. Being a
rational programme by definition, a career development programme should be so designed as
to successfully steer organisational performance. It should make employees earn their
continued membership in the work organisation.
Lastly human resources departments can make use of career paths as indicators of
managing problems in the career development programme. For instance, if the human
resources department can maintain and periodically examine statistics, which show where the
employees who share a common career path are, it is able to detect slacks in training,
promotion of certain cadres, etc. and recommend increases in the height of the career ladder
or even facilitate inter-path mobility among ambitious and hard working employees. For
instance in a case where 84% of all clerical staff in the organisation lies between 0 and 25%
up the career path, the human resources department has reasons to suspect that something
should be wrong, and proceed to investigate. The investigation could reveal forgotten cases
of promotion, maybe due to favouritism or slackness on the part of the organisation to enable
the affected employees satisfy the access conditions. It could also reveal job dissatisfaction
symptoms, neglect, etc. Investigation and solution of these problems helps keep the career
development programme on course.
To conclude this section, let us discuss the main features of a modern career path:
(a) It should show the different positions, which an employee can hold during his or her
stay in the organisation.
(b) It should show the criteria, which an employee should satisfy to move from one job
position to higher one.
(c) It should act as a tool for managing career development of employees.
(d) It should be based on, and encourage employee performance and commitment to
work.
(e) It should encourage inter-ladder mobility.
(3) Training.
Employee training is another activity, which facilitates the implementation of

career plans. We have mentioned in section 9.10(2) above that modern career paths
should deliberately comprise hurdles, which make people, earn their places in their
career paths. Some of these hurdles are related to education and training.
Once a career plan is in place, the organisation has the responsibility to ensure that its
implementation is not frustrated by poor implementation of the organisation's training
programme. The effective management of the training programme serves as evidence of

resolve by the organisation to play its part to ensure that the career plan proceeds as intended;
and leaves the employees to play their part.
The human resources department should include in the training programme

workshops or seminars on career planning in order to increase employee interest in career
planning.xxii Such fora would help employees set career goals, identify career paths, and
assist in solving problems associated with the smooth implementation of the career
development programme.
(4) Skills Inventorying.
Skills inventorying refers to the task of compiling of each employee's skills and
performance abilities. Skills inventories usually relate to non-management employees, as
opposed to management inventories. If you revert to our discussion of the steps of preparing
a career plan in section 9.4 you will note that skills inventorying is done during career
planning in order to determine the stock of skills, which each employee possesses. Skills
inventorying helps the organisation to determine its skills strength, skill deficiencies, for
purposes of assessing the promotability of the employees, their recruitability, and also for
training purposes.
Skills inventories can be compiled from the organisation's data bank, although
questionnaires and interviews may also be used if the data bank is not sufficiently up to-date.
A computerised data bank is very useful not only for speedy retrieval of data, but also for
varied forms of presenting it to facilitate human resources management decisions.
(5) Job posting.
Job posting is a method of informing employees about unfilled job openings, their
demands in the form of educational and skill qualifications and experience, and the procedure
of applying for them. Job posting programmes are implemented by "posting" notices on the
organisation's notice board or even in its newspaper. The information provided under job
posting is derived from job analysis information discussed in chapter four.
Job posting, which we termed internal bidding and discussed in chapter six as a
method of recruiting from within, is used as a method of implementing career development
plans by promoting qualified employees to fill vacant jobs. Job postings allow employees to
develop their careers by bidding for vacant jobs within the work organisation.
(1) Career counselling

(2) Career pathing
(3) Training
(4) Skills inventorying
(5) Job posting
Figure 9-3: Summary of career development activities
9.13 Stages of Career Development
We have recommended that human resources departments should assist employees to

plan their careers and take part in the implementation of their career plans. We have
underscored that when employees have clear career plans, they become settled, committed
and hardworking employees. We have also stated that career plans signify a management
commitment to implement them, which implies a commitment to implement training
programmes, recruiting prom within, and promotions. The impression, which these
recommendations create, is that most if not all employees who have career plans consistently
follow them through. This impression could be theoretical and misleading.
In practice, people and organisations change their commitment to their career plans
for many reasons. Their career plans may be overtaken by changes in the organisation's
internal and external environments. For instance, inside the organisation, the employee's
performance may deteriorate, technology may displace employee skills, the organisation may
be forced to redesign its jobs, or there could occur changes in the management team that may
occasion a reduction of interest in implementing the existing career development programme.
Externally, the economy could cause a slump in business and thus seriously impair the
organisation's financial capability, or the labour market could offer better job opportunities
that attract employees to leave.xxiii All these are just some of the reasons, which cause
employees and organisations to shift their foci on the implementation of career development
programmes.
In choosing their career paths employees are usually guided by perceptions of their
talents, abilities, needs, motives attitudes, and values. Edgar Schein referred to these
individual perceptions as career anchors because they tend to firmly attach individuals'
careers to their underlying abilities, needs, and values.xxiv. All people have anchors. Career
anchors take different forms, and are related to people’s age.
Organisational scientists distinguish between the various issues that affect employees'
careers as conceivable in three stages: early, middle, and late stages.xxv
(1) Early Stage
The early stage includes employees in their mid-twenties, whose main concern is
making job decisions and planning their future careers. Employees are in the early stages of
their career. Their anchors lead them to admire being accepted by peers, learning the job and
aspiring to succeed in life.
(2) Middle Stage
Employees usually reach the middle stage when they reach the ages of between 35
and 50. This is the period where employees continue to improve their performance, stagnate,
or begin to deteriorate. People's perceptions here lead them to want to attain high-level
management job positions. They like to analyse and solve work problems, to advise others,
and influence them.
As we said early in the last paragraph, some employees may end at this stage, some
may aspire to move on to another stage, and some may begin to deteriorate to the early stage.
Most decisions to change career plans are usually made at this stage.
(3) Late Stage
Employees in their late stage are normally interested in security and stability. People
that reach the late stage are those that either had stagnated at the middle stage or those that
made efforts to improve their performance. This is the stage when employees realise that
they can no longer move from employer to employer; they must settle down and begin
planning their retirement. The major preoccupation for this group is to find an activity,
which will supplement their post employment income so that they can lead a life
commensurate to their life during their career with their current employer.
9.14 Modern Career Development Practices
This section is devoted to an examination of the practices that characterise work

organisations, which value career development.
(1) They try to offer their employees a challenging first job. It has been proved that if an
employee's first job in the organisation is attractive and challenging, that employee
becomes motivated to work hard in subsequent years, and prefers to make a career
success in the same organisation.
(2) They give their current employees priority candidacy in recruiting people to fill job
openings in the work organisation.
(3) They make periodic changes in their jobs, e.g. transfers, promotions, temporary
assignments, study tours, etc. in order to fight monotony and obsolescence.
(4) They manage their employee training and development programmes seriously in order
to gain the trust of their employees in the career development programme. Such
seriousness convinces employees that the employer is serious with their advancement.
(5) They practice career counselling in order to discuss with employees about their
performance on their current jobs, about their career objectives, their personal skills,
and training preferences. Through career counselling, employers are able to discover
problems and misconceptions related to the implementation of the career development
programme and redress them. The human resources department may initiate career
counselling or it may be done as part of the appraisal interview at the end of the year.
Counselling may be provided not only by human resources department staff, but also
by superiors, specialised staff counsellors, or by professional consultants.
(6) They conduct periodic career development workshops, where employees and their
managers can be brought together in order to jointly seek solutions to any problems in
the career development programmes.
(7) Transparency. They ensure that all parties in the organisation are timely and
adequately informed about the resources allocated to, and all decisions taken about the
career development programmes.
9.15 Career Development for Special Employee Groups
Many work organisations do not have career development programmes that cover all
employees: they lay their emphasis on a number of key employee groups such as
management, women, and the disabled. These employee groups become key either because
of their pivotal roles to organisational performance and survival or due to the protection
accorded them by government laws and policies, societal policies, and union requirements.
These career programmes are designed in the same way as all other career
programmes. The speciality is having them, and the amount of external pressure and control
related to their implementation. Unfortunately, some of the protected groups particularly
women; expect more than enough from these programmes. In our opinion, some women
translate the protective treatment to be an end, and so, they do not do enough to perform their
obligations towards the career development programme as we discussed in section 9.09.
Chruden and Sherman suggest to women who aspire to responsible managerial positions:
Successful people get ahead because of their intellect, energy, determination,

character, interpersonal skill, charisma, and luck. None of these characteristics is a sex-
linked phenomenon.xxvi
9.16 HRM in Practice
Incident 9-1: Career Planning and Development at MWANECO

Most permanent and pensionable employees at the Mwanza Electric Company
(MWANECO) nicknamed the company “kisiki” the Swahili term for “stump”, implying lack
of movement. According to the employees, “kisiki” meant that once employees got into the
company, they had virtually no chance of moving up the organisational structure: they
remained where they were. The company’s nickname became so widespread that even
management got to hear of it, contrary to the secretive nature of nicknames assigned to
leaders and organizations in Tanzania. In Tanzanian culture, it is common for subordinates to
assign nicknames to their seniors and organisations, but these names were kept secret to the
seniors or the organisation.
Notwithstanding this problem, employee turnover was low at MWANECO. The pay
package was among the highest in Mwanza City. In addition, all employees at MWANECO
enjoyed an attractive benefits package as well as high job security. It seemed that in
MWANECO, the only time an employee received a promotion was when a manager retired
or died. Even when job openings did occur, the Human Resources Department would hire a
replacement from some other electric utility company, or advertise the openings in the
Kenyan and Ugandan media. This problem was gradually mounting dissatisfaction among
the employees.
The MWANECO top management became concerned about the employees’ negative
attitude reflected in the nickname “kisiki” and decided to hire “City Management
Consultants” of Dar es Salaam to develop a career-planning programme for the company.
After two months, the consultants released in their report a detailed plan, complete with a
special office of career counselling in the Human Resources Department. Initially the
employees responded favourably and made good use of the counselling services, and career
information services available at the new office. One year later the Career Counsellor Mrs.
Chiku Talawa walked to the Human Resources Manager and asked for a transfer to the
welfare section. When she was asked why, Chiku explained that the employees were making
very little use of the services of her office and as a result the job of counsellor had become
lonely and boring. In his reply, the Human Resources Manager gave Chiku an assignment to
find out why the counselling programme was failing and what might be done to revitalise it.
Questions:
1. What in your opinion explains the initial employee enthusiasm for career planning and
development services followed by almost total avoidance of the facility?
2. Assuming part of the avoidance is explained by shortage of support by the MWANECO
top management, what specific recommendations would you make?
3. What lessons can MWANECO learn from the career planning and development
approaches used by the Japanese?
Incident 9-2: Career Planning at TTL

Maria Mchundo had worked as one of the two female telephone installers/repairers
grade four for the Dar es Salaam-based Tanzania Telephone Lines (TTL) for seven years.
The job was mainly outdoors for most of the day, and took her to many places of Dar es
Salaam City, where she met and got to know many people. Customers liked Maria’s services
and reported her positively to her bosses. In addition the job paid her well and her co-
workers were congenial. She enjoyed her job. Maria had gone to work on this job right after
her graduation at Chang’ombe VETA College, and had never considered doing anything else.
During the seven years, Maria’s colleagues had occasionally been promoted to supervisory
positions, and taken advantage of TTL’s paid house rents, and educational benefits for
herself, and children. Many that had not been promoted received letters of commendation for
outstanding services to the company.
Maria was close friends with Rose Baisi, a fellow installer/repairer grade four. Rose,
who had been on the job for three years was also a good employee. About five months ago,
Rose began to express dissatisfaction with her work, claiming it consisted of a lot of routine,
monotony, and inadequate autonomy. She claimed there certainly must be better ways of
making a living.
Last week, Maria learned, that TTL would pay Rose’s evening Bachelor of Business
Administration programme at the University of Dar es Salaam. That same day, Maria began
to feel concern about herself and her status with TTL. She began having restless, sleepless
nights as she thought back over her past life in the company. She considered what she had
done with her life, where she was now in her career, and where she was heading for. Her
thoughts became so heavy that she realised she was going to need some help soon.
Maria had never set any personal goals for herself other than to eat well, dress well,
drink some Dodoma Wine in the evenings, and live in a reasonably furnished house. She had
come from a poor Sambaa family in Mlalo Village in the Lushoto Highlands plateau, and had
received little encouragement or help from her parents to develop ambitions when she was
young. The one thing her mother had insisted on was that someone in their family was going
to be a University graduate; and luckily, Mary was that person. She did not have any higher
ambitions because even graduating from high school had proved to be extremely difficult for
her. Maria could not think of spending many more years doing a second and third degree,
when she needed and wanted to be out making money for herself and her parent’s family.
Now, with Rose and other colleagues around her moving up their career ladders and
Maria’s career at a standstill, she felt she was at a real dead end. She was convinced that she
needed to do something different, but she was not sure just what.
Questions:
(1) As a HRM student, draft an advice, you would give to Maria?

(2) Do you feel a career plan could help a person like Maria?
9.17 Progress Questions
(1) What do you understand by the terms: career, career planning, and career
development?
(2) Outline the main steps to be followed in constructing an employee's career plan.
(3) Why do work organisations do career planning?
(4) Discuss the role of the human resources department in career planning.
(5) What are the main objectives of career development in an organisation?
(6) Name the component activities of a career development programme.
(7) (a) What are career anchors, according to Schein?
(b) What are the major influences of career anchors to a late-stage employee?
(8) Discuss the management practices prevalent in an organisation, which believes in
career development.
9.18 Notes and References

i
WERTHER W.B. and DAVIS K., "Personnel Management and Human Resources", McGraw-Hill
Inc., New York 1985,p.258.
ii
ROBBINS S.P., "Organisational Behaviour: Concepts, Controversies, and Applications" Prentice-
Hall International Inc. Englewood Cliffs. New Jersey, 1986 p.416.
iii
SUPER D.E. and HALL D.T., "Career Development: Exploration and Planning", in ROSENZWEIG
M.R. and PORTER L.W. (eds.), Annual Review of Psychology, Vol.29 1978, p.334.
CASCIO W.F. and AWAD E.M., "Human Resources Management: An Information Systems
Approach", Reston Publishing Company Inc., Reston, Virginia, 1981, p.273-274.
WERTHER W.B. and DAVIS K., Op. Cit. p.258.
iv
FERGUSON L.L., "Better Management of Managers' Careers", Harvard Business Review, March-
April 1966, pp. 133-152.
v
Adapted from CASCIO W.F., and AWAD E.M., "Human Resources Management: An Information
Systems Approach, Reston Publishing Company Inc., Reston, Virginia 1981, pp. 287-289.
vi
Compare with WERTHER W.B. and DAVIS K., Op. Cit. pp. 261-262.
vii
This approach is widely used in Zambia.
viii
See also KRAUT A. I., “Prediction of Managerial Success by Peer and Training – Staff Ratings”,
Journal of Applied Psychology 60 February 1975 pp. 14 – 19.
ix
See also HALL D. T and HALL F.S. , “What’s New in Career Management?” Organisational
Dynamics 5, Summer 1976 pp.23-4.
x
In Tanzania employees retire voluntarily at 55 and compulsorily at 60 in ordinary professions. In
institutions of higher learning, academic staff retire at 60 voluntary, and 65 compulsorily.
xi
TRACY E.J. “Parachutes A-Popping”, Fortune, March 31, 1986 p.66
xii
We explain the importance of this fact in chapter ten.
xiii
Consistency as a principle of employee disciplining is discussed in detail in chapter eighteen.
xiv
In a survey conducted by the author on executives from 12 Tanzanian work organisations in Dar es
Salaam, all organisations admitted to be doing no comprehensive career planning for their
employees.
xv
Compare: WERTHER W.B. and DAVIS K., Op. Cit. p.263
xvi
Compare: HALL D.T., "Careers in Organisations", Pacific Palisades, California Goodyear, 1976.
xvii
GLUECK W.F., "Personnel: A Diagnostic Approach", Business Publications, Inc., Plano, Texas
1982, p.349.
xviii
Compare with WERTHER W.B. and DAVIS K., Op. Cit. pp.269-270.
xix
WHETTEN D.A. and CAMERON K.S. “Developing Management Skills, Scott, Foresman and
Company, Glenview, 1984, pp.250-254.
xx
CHRUDEN H.J. and SHERMAN A.W., "Managing Human Resources", South-Western Publishing
Co., Cincinnati, 1984 p.207.
xxi
The practice referred to here, was a general weakness observed by the author in the career paths of
many Tanzanian public organisations in the period 1989 to 1995. Notable among these
organisations is the Tanzania civil service, the University of Dar es Salaam, the National Insurance
Corporation of Tanzania Ltd, The Tanzania Bureau of Standards, and others.
xxii
ARCHER F.W., "Charting a Career Course", Personnel Journal, April 1984, pp. 60-64.
xxiii
ROBBINS S.P., "Organisational Behaviour", Prentice-Hall International Inc., Englewood Cliffs,
New Jersey, 1986 p.416.
xxiv
SCHEIN E.H., "Career Dynamics: Matching Individual and Organisational Needs", Addison-
Wesley, Reading Massachusetts 1978.
xxv
GREENBERG J. and BARON R.A., "Behaviour in Organisations: Understanding and Managing the
Human Side of Work" Prentice-Hall International Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1995, p. 224.
SUPER D.E. AND HALL D.T., "Careers in Organisations", Goodyear, Santa Monica, California,
1976, pp.3-4.
xxvi
CHRUDEN H.J. and SHERMAN A.W., Op. Cit. p.220.

HRM Cap Nine CAREER PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

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HRM Cap Nine CAREER PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

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CHAPTER NINE

CAREER PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

9.0 Chapter Outline

9.1 Learning Objectives

(1) Define the term career.

9.3 What is a Career?

The term career development is used in behavioural science literature to refer to a

9.4 What is Career Planning?

A typical career plan consists of the following nine major steps:v

100 Sen. Admin.

Career Path for Secretarial Career

Figure 9-1: The concept of a career path

Chapter 09: Career Planning and Development 6

(7) Start implementing the plan of action.

9.6 Benefits of Career Planning

(1) Internal supply market.

Career planning helps to develop the internal supply of promotable employees. As

(2) Employee development.

Career planning motivates employees to grow and develop themselves more

(3) Employee retention and work force stability.

(4) Utilisation of employee potential.

(5) Satisfaction of employee needs.

9.7 Employee Concern in Career Planning

(1) Career Equity

(2) Fair Appraisal

Employees want their management to be alert i.e. watch individual performance

(3) Management Concern

Employees want their management to develop interest in the career advancement of

Employees want to be actively involved in planning their career development and to

(5) Target of Individual Interests

Employees have unique interests in career development, which they wish

(6) Career Satisfaction

(7) Career Planning in Intra-organisational Movements

Employee movements in the work organisation viz. transfer; job recategorisations,

As we noted in chapter five, a promotion is in effect a transfer involving the

It is important for the organisation to consider what a promotion will mean to an

Practice in unionised organisations is characterised by a conflictual orientation to

(i) Career ladders

(ii) Succession ladders

(iii) Assessment centres

There are three important benefits of involving assessment centres in promotion

(iv) Application for Promotion and Interviewing

(vi) Peer ratings

(vii) Fallback positions

Normally, demotions result from organisational staff downsizing and disciplinary

(8) Career Planning in Employee Exit

Employee resignation is the voluntary separation of an employee from the work

(a) Rates of Turnover

(b) Exit Interviews

(c) Post-employment Surveys

Retirement is the separation of older employees from the organisation in accordance

Retirement is a difficult separation method. It involves a radical change in the

A layoff is a temporary or indefinite removal of employees from the payroll. The

Layoffs usually affect small groups of employees in organisations that are

Although in many Tanzanian organisations layoffs normally affect junior employees,

(a) Accrued and accumulated vacation pay and passage.

In unionised organisations, labour contracts govern the procedure to be used in laying

(4) Summary Dismissal

A summary dismissal, also called a discharge, firing, or termination, is a management

A discharge is normally an immediate and traumatic experience for the affected

(e) Refusal of work instructions.

(a) Maintain good records of unsatisfactory performance.