SHRM Avs Iv Unit

STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
UNIT – IV
CAREER & COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT
Career Concepts – Roles – Career stages – Career planning and Process – Career development
Models– Career Motivation and Enrichment –Managing Career plateaus- Designing Effective
Career Development Systems – Competencies and Career Management – Competency Mapping
Models – Equity and Competency based Compensation.
Contents
4.1 Concept of Career ................................................................................................................................... 2
4.1.1 Career stages........................................................................................................................................ 3
4.1.2.Schein's Career Anchors....................................................................................................................... 5
4.2. ROLES IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT ......................................................................................................... 6
4.3. Career Stages ......................................................................................................................................... 9
4.4. Career Planning Process....................................................................................................................... 14
4.5. Career Development Models ............................................................................................................... 16
4.6. Career Motivation and Enrichment ..................................................................................................... 20
4.7. Managing Career Plateaus ................................................................................................................... 22
Career Plateaus ........................................................................................................................................... 22
Managing the plateau ................................................................................................................................. 23
4.8. Designing effective Career Development Systems .............................................................................. 23
4.9. Competencies and Career Management ............................................................................................. 26
4.10. Competency Mapping Models ........................................................................................................... 28
Competency Mapping ................................................................................................................................. 28
4.11.Equity and Competency based Compensation ................................................................................... 30
This material is proprietary to KV Institute of Management, a Nationally Ranked BSchool in Coimbatore and cannot be copied or duplicated for use outside of KV.
Violators will face infringement proceedings of copyright laws. .
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4.1 Concept of Career
A career can be defines as all the jobs occupied by a person during his working life.
It consists of a series of properly sequenced role experiences leading to an increasing level of

responsibility, status, power, and rewards. It represents an organized path taken by an individual
across time and space.
Definition by Greenhaus: Career can be described best as the pattern of work related experiences
that span the course of one’s life.
• Greenhaus and Schein describe several meanings for the term career which are as
follows:
1. The property of an occupation or organization
Described in this way, career means the occupation or an employee’s tenure within an
organization
2. Advancement
Career denotes one’s progression and increasing success within an occupation or organization
3. Status of a profession
Some use the term career to separate the professions such as doctor or lecturer, from other
occupations such as electrician, carpentry. In this view, the doctor is said to have a career, while
the electrician does not.
4. Involvement in one’s work
Career is also used to refer to the involvement in the job i.e., extreme involvement in the job
5. Stability of a person’s work pattern
Sequence of related jobs.
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4.1.1 Career stages
• The proper way to analyze and discuss careers is to look at them as made up of stages.
We can identify five career stages that most people will go through during their adult
years, regardless of the type of work they do. These stages are exploration, establishment,
mid-career, late career and decline.
1. Exploration
• Many of the critical choices individuals make about their careers are made prior to
entering the workforce on a paid basis. Very early in our lives, our parents and teachers
begin to narrow our alternatives and lead us in certain directions.
• The careers of our parents, their aspirations for their children and their financial sources
are crucial factors in determining our perception of what careers are open to us.
• The exploration period ends for most of us in our mid-twenties as we make the transition
from college to work. From an organisational standpoint this stage has little relevance
since it occurs prior to employment.
• However, this period is not irrelevant because it is a time when a number of expectations
about one’s career are developed, many of which are unrealistic. Such expectations may
lie dormant for years and then pop up later to frustrate both the employee and the
employer.
2. Establishment
• The establishment period begins with the search for work and includes our First job,
being accepted by our peers, learning the job and gaining the first tangible evidence of
success or failure in the real world. It is a time which begins with uncertainties, anxieties
and risks.
• It is also marked by making mistakes and learning from these mistakes and the gradual
assumption of increased responsibilities. However, the individual in this stage has yet to
reach his peak productivity and rarely gets the job that carries great power or high status.
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3. Mid-career
• Most people do not face their first severe dilemmas until they reach their mid-career
stage. This is a time when individuals may continue their prior improvements in
performance or begin to deteriorate. At this point in a career, one is expected to have
moved beyond apprenticeship to worker-status.
• Those who make a successful transition assume greater responsibilities and get rewards.
For others, it may be a time for reassessment, job changes, adjustment of priorities or the
pursuit of alternative lifestyles.
4. Late career
• For those who continue to grow through the mid- career stage, the late career usually is a
pleasant time when one is allowed the luxury to relax a bit. It is the time when one can
enjoy the respect given to him by younger employees. During the late career, individuals
are no longer learning, they teach others on the basis of the knowledge they have gained.
• To those who have stagnated during the previous stage, the late career brings the reality
that they cannot change the world as they had once thought.
• It is a time when individuals have decreased work mobility and may be locked into their
current job. One starts looking forward to retirement and the opportunities of doing
something different.
5. Decline
• The final stage in one’s career is difficult for everyone but it is hardest for those who
have had continued successes in the earlier stages. After several decades of continuous
achievements and high levels of performance, the time has come for retirement.
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4.1.2.Schein's Career Anchors
• Edgar Schein at MIT has identified eight themes and has shown that people will have
prioritized preferences for these. For example a person with a primary theme of
Security/Stability will seek secure and stable employment over, say, employment that is
challenging and riskier. People tend to stay anchored in one area and their career will
echo this in many ways.
Technical/Functional competence
• This kind of person likes being good at something and will work to become a guru or
expert. They like to be challenged and then use their skill to meet the challenge, doing the
job properly and better than almost anyone else.
General Managerial competence
• Unlike technical/functional people, these folks want to be managers (and not just to get
more money, although this may be used as a metric of success). They like problem-
solving and dealing with other people. They thrive on responsibility. To be successful,
they also need emotional competence.
Autonomy/Independence
• These people have a primary need to work under their own rules and steam. They avoid
standards and prefer to work alone.
Security/Stability
• Security-focused people seek stability and continuity as a primary factor of their lives.
They avoid risks and are generally 'lifers' in their job.
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Entrepreneurial Creativity
• These folks like to invent things, be creative and, most of all, to run their own businesses.
They differ from those who seek autonomy in that they will share the workload. They
find ownership very important. They easily get bored. Wealth, for them, is a sign of
success.
Service/Dedication to a cause
• Service-oriented people are driven by how they can help other people more than using
their talents (which may fall in other areas). They may well work in public services or in
such as HR.
Pure Challenge
• People driven by challenge seek constant stimulation and difficult problems that they can
tackle. Such people will change jobs when the current one gets boring and their career
can be very varied.
Lifestyle
• Those who are focused first on lifestyle look at their whole pattern of living. They not so
much balance work and life as integrate it. They may even take long periods off work in
which to indulge in passions such as sailing or traveling.
4.2. ROLES IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT

 It has always been true that each person carry the responsibility for his or her own career.
 Everyone should recognize and accept the personal responsibility in framing a career
development for him or herself.
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 Similarly the managers and supervisors also have the responsibility to become involved
in designing a career for the employees.
1. The Individual’s Role
2. The Manager’s responsibility
3. The HRD & Career Development Professional’s Responsibility
1. The Individual’s Role
 Career progress and development is largely the outcome of actions on the part of an
individual.
 Hall, who views careers as a lifelong learning process, believes that people must learn
how to learn and gain self-knowledge, and must become more adaptable.
 Others authors have suggested that individuals make decisions and take assignments
that provide an opportunity to learn and continuously develop new and existing skills.
 Jones and Defillip distilled six competencies that were possessed by people who
successfully navigated the boundary careers and network – type of organizations
found in the film industry, which they argue typify the new career landscape.
 These competencies are:
1. Knowing What – Understanding the industry’s opportunities, threats, and requirements
2. Knowing Why – Understanding the meaning, motives, and interests for pursuing a career
3. Knowing More – Understanding the locations and boundaries for entering, training, and
advancing within a career system
4. Knowing Whom – Forming relationships based on attraction and social capital that will gain
access to opportunities and resources
5. Knowing When – Understanding the timing and choice of activities within one’s career
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6. Knowing How – Understanding and acquiring the skill and talents needed for effective
performance in assignments and responsibilities
2. The Manager’s responsibility
• The assistance from supervisors and managers are equally important in achieving
individual career goals and meeting organizational needs.
• Supervisor can serve as a source of information about an employee’s capabilities and
limitations through the performance evaluation process.
• Also, the supervisor can provide accurate information about career paths and
opportunities within the organization support the employee’s career plans.
• Supervisory involvement has been cited as a key component of successful career
development programs.
• Based on an analysis of critical gathered from employees, there are four roles that
managers and supervisors should be trained to perform in order to fulfil their
responsibility as career developers.
These roles include:
• Coach: One who listens, clarifies, probes, and defines employee career concerns
• Appraiser: One who gives feedback, clarifies performance standards and job
responsibilities
• Adviser: One who generates options, helps set goals, makes recommendations, and gives
advice
• Referral Agent – One who consults with the employee on action plans and links the
employee to available organizational people and resources
3. The HRD & Career Development Professional’s Responsibility
• Hall offers the following suggestions for HR managers to help individuals fulfill their
role as masters of their own careers:
1. Start with the recognition that each individual owns his or her career
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2. Create information and support for the individual’s own efforts at development
3. Recognize that career development is a relational process in which the career practitioner
plays a broker role
4. Become an expert in career information and assessment technologies
5. Become a professional communicator about your services and the new career contract
6. Promote learning through relationships at work
7. Be organizational interventionists, that is, someone willing and able to intervene where there
are roadblocks to successful career management
8. Promote mobility and the idea of the lifelong learner identity
9. Promote work planning that benefits the organization as a whole, over career planning that is
unrelated to organizational goals and future directions
10. Develop the mind set of using natural (existing) resources for development
4.3. Career Stages

Stages of Life and Career Development
Stage views of adult development by:
• Erik Erickson
• Daniel Levinson
Erikson’s Stages of Human Development
• Basic trust vs. mistrust

• Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
• Initiative vs. guilt
• Industry vs. inferiority
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• Identity vs. role confusion
• Intimacy vs. isolation
• Generativity vs. stagnation
• Ego integrity vs. despair
Basic trust vs. mistrust (0–2 years)
• The first stage of Erik Erikson's theory centers on the infant's basic needs being met by
the parents and this interaction leading to trust or mistrust.
• If caregivers are consistent sources of food, comfort, and affection, an infant learns trust-
that others are dependable and reliable.
If they are neglectful, or perhaps even abusive, the infant instead learns mistrust- that the world
is in an undependable, unpredictable, and possibly a dangerous place.
Autonomy vs. shame and doubt (2–4 years)
• The parents' patience and encouragement helps foster autonomy in the child.
• If caregivers encourage self-sufficient behaviour, toddlers (very young child) develop a

sense of autonomy—a sense of being able to handle many problems on their own.
But if caregivers demand too much too soon, refuse to let children perform tasks of
which they are capable, or ridicule early attempts at self-sufficiency, children may instead
develop shame and doubt about their ability to handle problems.
Initiative vs. guilt (4–5 years)
• During this stage, the child learns to take initiative and prepare for leadership and goal
achievement roles.
• If parents and preschool teachers encourage and support children's efforts, while also
helping them make realistic and appropriate choices, children develop initiative-
independence in planning and undertaking activities.
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• But if, instead, adults discourage the pursuit of independent activities or dismiss them as
silly and bothersome, children develop guilt about their needs and desires.
Industry vs. inferiority (5–12 years)
• At this age, children start recognizing their special talents and continue to discover
interests as their education improves.
• If children are encouraged to make and do things and are then praised for their
accomplishments, they begin to demonstrate industry by being diligent, persevering at
tasks until completed, and putting work before pleasure.
• If children are instead ridiculed or punished for their efforts or if they find they are
incapable of meeting their teachers' and parents' expectations, they develop feelings
of inferiority about their capabilities.
Identity vs. Role Confusion (13–19 years)
• This is the time when we ask the question "Who am I?" To successfully answer this
question, Erikson suggests, the adolescent must integrate the healthy resolution of all
earlier conflicts.
• If the adolescent solves this conflict successfully, he will come out of this stage with a
strong identity, and ready to plan for the future.
• If not, the adolescent will sink into confusion, unable to make decisions and choices,
especially about vocation, sexual orientation, and his role in life in general.
Intimacy vs. Isolation (20–24 years)
• Once people have established their identities, they are ready to make long-term
commitments to others.
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• They become capable of forming intimate, reciprocal relationships (e.g. through close
friendships or marriage) and willingly make the sacrifices and compromises that such
relationships require.
• If people cannot form these intimate relationships – perhaps because of their own needs –
a sense of isolation may result.
Generativity vs. Stagnation (25–64 years)
• Generativity is the concern of guiding the next generation. Socially-valued work and
disciplines are expressions of generativity.
• During middle age the primary developmental task is one of contributing to society and
helping to guide future generations.
• When a person makes a contribution during this period, perhaps by raising a family or
working toward the betterment of society, a sense of generatively- a sense of productivity
and accomplishment- results.
• In contrast, a person who is self-centered and unable or unwilling to help society move
forward develops a feeling of stagnation- dissatisfaction with the relative lack of
productivity.
Ego Integrity vs. Despair (65-death)
• This stage can occur out of the sequence when an individual feels they are near the end of
their life.
• It is during this time that we contemplate our accomplishments and are able to
develop integrity if we see ourselves as leading a successful life.
• If we see our life as unproductive, or feel that we did not accomplish our life goals, we
become dissatisfied with life and develop despair, often leading to depression and
hopelessness.
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Levinson’s Eras or Seasons of Adult development
Career Planning & Process
• Career planning is the process by which one selects career goals and the path to these
goals.
• The major focus of career planning is on assisting the employees achieve a better match
between personal goals and the opportunities that are realistically available in the
organization.
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Objectives of Career Planning in an organization
Career planning seeks to meet the following objectives:
1. Attract and retain talent by offering careers, not jobs.
2. Use human resources effectively and achieve greater productivity.
3. Reduce employee turnover.
4. Improve employee morale and motivation.
5. Meet the immediate and future human resource needs of the organization on a timely basis.
4.4. Career Planning Process

1. Identifying individual needs and aspirations
• Most individuals do not have a clear cut idea about their career aspirations, anchors
and goals.
• The human resource professionals must, therefore, help an employee by providing
as much information as possible showing what kind of work would suit the employee
most, taking his skills, experience, and aptitude into account.
• Such assistance is extended through workshops / seminars while the employees are
subjected to psychological testing, simulation exercise, etc.
• The basic purpose of such an exercise is to help an employee form a clear view about
what he should do to build his career within the company.
2. Analysing career opportunities
• Once career needs and aspirations of employees are known, the organization has to
provide career paths for each position.
• Career paths show career progression possibilities clearly.
• They indicate the various positions that open could hold over a period of time, if one
is able to perform well.
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• Career paths change overtime, of course, in tune with employee’s needs and
organizational requirements.
• While outlining career paths, the claims of experienced persons lacking professional
degrees and that of young recruits with excellent degrees but without experience
need to be balanced properly
3. Aligning needs and opportunities
After employees have identified their needs and have realized the existence of career
opportunities the remaining problem is one of alignment.
This process consists of two steps:
(i). Identify the potential of employees and then undertake career development programs with
a view to align employee needs and organizational opportunities. Through performance
appraisal, the potential of employees can be assessed to some extent.
(ii). After identifying the potential of employees certain developmental techniques such as
special assignments, planned position rotation, supervisory coaching, job enrichment
understudy programs can be undertaken to update employee knowledge and skills.
4. Action plans and periodic review
• The matching process would uncover gaps.

• These need to be bridged through individual career development efforts and
organization supported efforts from time to time.
• After initiating these steps, it is necessary to review the whole thing every now and
then.
• This will help the employee know in which direction he is moving, what changes are
likely to take place, what kind of skills are needed to face new and emerging
organizational challenges.
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• From an organizational standpoint also it is necessary to find how employees are
doing, what are their goals and aspirations, whether the career paths are in tune with
individual needs and serve the overall corporate objectives, etc.
4.5. Career Development Models

• Broadly the career development models can be categorized into
 Traditional model and
 Contemporary models.
Traditional model
• Numerous models of career development have been offered to explain the sequence
of stages that adults progress through during their work lives.
• Each of these models emphasizes the notion of an orderly series of career stages
linked to age, place in the career context of a person’s life, and contains overlapping
concepts.
• Greenhaus’s five stage model is explained.
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Stage 1: Preparation of Work (Age 0-18)
Stage 2: Organizational Entry (Age 18 – 25)
Stage 3: The early career (Age 25 – 40)
Stage 4: The Mid Career (Age 40 – 55)
Stage 5: The Late Career (Age 55 -Retirement)
Stage 1: Preparation of Work (Age 0-18)
• The major task during this period involve forming and defining an idea of the occupation
one would like to engage in, and making necessary preparation for entry into that
occupation.
• These activities include assessing possible occupations, selecting an occupation, and
obtaining the necessary education.
• The choice one makes during this stage represent initial decisions in a course of
continuous exploration and establish the first direction or the individual’s career.
Stage 2: Organizational Entry (Age 18 – 25)
• At this stage the individual selects a job and an organisation in which to begin
employment in the chosen career field.
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• The amount and quantity of information obtained can affect whether the initial choice
will be fulfilling introduction to one’s career or a disappointing false state.
• Among the obstacles the individual faces in this stage are initial job career stages, due
to the disparity between the initial expectation and organizational realities and
organizational socialization.
Stage 3: The early career (Age 25 – 40)
• During this stage the individual is dealing with finding a place in the world and
pursuing his or her life dream; this also involves becoming established in career and
in an Organisation.
• The specific challenges that must be met to do this include becoming technically
proficient and becoming assimilated into an organization’s culture.
• Successful resolution of these challenges can result in job satisfaction, advancement
in terms of position and responsibility, and increased financial and social rewards.
• In short, the early career stage is about becoming established and makes it.
Stage 4: The Mid Career (Age 40 – 55)
• One of the task individual faces at mid career is a re-examination of the life structure
and choices that were adopted during the early career.
• The individual may reaffirm or modify the dream, make choices appropriate to
middle adulthood, and remain productive at work.
• These challenges are concurrent with popular notion of a mid career crisis. The crisis
may be severe for some and not even seen as crisis by others.
• Two events that often occur during mid career are PLATEAUING (Lack of significant
increase in responsibility and job advancement) and OBSOLESCENCE (Finding ones
skills are not sufficient to perform tasks required by technological change).
Stage 5: The Late Career (Age 55 - Retirement)
• The individual faces two challenges during this stage.
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 First he or she must strive to remain productive and maintain a sense of self – esteem.
This can sometimes be hampered by the negative beliefs that society has regarding the
performance and capabilities of older workers.
 Second, this individual faces the challenges of disengaging for work and retiring.
Retirement bring many emotional, financial, and social changes and should be planned
for well in advance of the actual retirement date
Contemporary view of career Development.
• Certainly trend in globalization, demographics, technology (both information and

otherwise), the changing employment relationship, team-based work, and new
organizational structure are having a significant impact on the way careers are viewed.
Protean Career
• Hall and Mirvis advanced the idea of the protean career. Protean means one who changes
shape at his will.
• The protean career concept is based on the notion that individuals drive their own career,
not organizations, and that individuals re-invent their careers over time as needed.
• As individuals go through life, they are on a search for a meaning and self – fulfillment,
and their career are made up of their choices and experiences (work, educational, and
otherwise).
• Each person’s career will be unique. Instead of progressing through a series of discrete
and predictable changes, the protean career “encompasses and moves from on line of
work to another, and so forth.
Multiple Career Model
• A second example of contemporary view of career development is the notion of differing

career patterns, called the multiple career concept.
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• This model suggests that there are four different patterns, or career concepts, of career
experiences.
These four concepts differ in terms of the direction and frequency of movement within
and across different kinds of work over time.
 Linear – A progress of movement up an organizational hierarchy to positions of

greater responsibility and authority; motivated by desire for power and achievement;
variable time line; in the United States, this has been the traditional view of career.
 Expert - A devotion to an occupation; focuses on building knowledge and skill
within a specialty; little upward movement in a traditional hierarchy, more from
apprentice to master; motivated by desire for competence and stability; rooted in the
medieval guild structure.
 Spiral – a lifelong progression of periodic ( Seven to Ten Years) move across related
occupations, disciplines, or specialties; sufficient time to achieve a high level of
competence in a given area before moving on motives include creativity and personal
growth.
 Transitory – A progression of frequent (three to five years) moves across different or
unrelated jobs or fields; untraditional; motives include variety and independence
4.6. Career Motivation and Enrichment

• Developing career motivation is a significant goal of effective career management.
According to Manuel London, career motivation affects
• how people chose their careers,

• how they view their career,
• how hard they work in them and
• How long they stay in them.
London sees career motivation as a set of characteristics grouped into three facts:
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• Career Resilience,
• Career Insight, and
• Career Identity
Career Resilience
• The extent to which people resist career barriers or disruptions affecting their work. This
consist of self confidence, need for achievement, the willingness to take risks, and the
ability to act independently and cooperative as appropriate.
Career Insight
• The extent to which people are realistic about themselves and their career and how these
perceptions are related to career goals. This includes developing goals and gaining
knowledge of self and the environment.
Career Identity
• The extent to which the people define themselves by their work. This includes
involvement in job, organisation, profession and the direction of career goals.
• A person can have high, low, moderate level of career motivation depending on his or
her position in each of these categories.
• For e.g., a person with high career motivation will continue to pursue career goals in
the facts of obstacles and setbacks (career resilience), formulating and pursuing
realistic career goals (career insight), and be involved highly in work and
aggressively pursue career goals (career identity)
• While career motivation is partly determined by an individual’s life experiences,
career activities and practices can help develop a person’s career motivation.
• For example self awareness workbooks and personal journals can be used to build
career insight.
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• Because career motivation can affect both decision making and commitment to once
career, it would be beneficial to the organisation to offers career development
activities to enhance such motivation
Methods of increasing Career Motivation
To support Career resilience

• Build employees self confidence through feed back and positive reinforcement.
• Generate opportunities for achievement.
• Create an environment conducive to risk taking by rewarding innovation and
reducing fear of failure.
• Show interpersonal concern and encourage group cohesiveness and collaborative
working relationships.
To enhance career insight
• Encourage employees to set their own goals.

• Supply employees with information which are relevant to attaining their career goals.
• Provide regular performance feedback.
To build career Identity
• Encourage worker involvement through job challenge and professional growth.

• Provide career development opportunities, such as leadership positions and
advancement potential.
• Reward solid performance through professional recognition and financial bonuses.
4.7. Managing Career Plateaus
Career Plateaus
• Career plateau is defined as the point where employees like hood of additional
hierarchical promotion is very low or where the learning rate won’t improve.
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Career plateaus can be classified as
• Position plateaus and

• Contribution plateaus.
Types of Career Plateaus
1. Position plateauing occurs when there is limited or no upward movement within the
organization possibly due to lack of opportunities within the organization.
2. Contribution plateauing occurs when there is a stagnation in one’s personal

development and growth. Here, there is no further development of one’s skills and abilities.
An employee can be personally plateaued or organizationally plateaued.
Managing the plateau

 HR personnel play a vital role in managing career plateaus of their employees.
 HR personnel can work towards preventing plateaued employees from becoming
ineffective.
 They can show possible avenues for personal growth and development to the employee.
 Job rotation and job enrichment also act as rational strategies for managing career
plateaus.
 Acquiring new competencies and skill development also are reasonable sometimes, and if
nothing works, then there is always an option of switching to a new job.
4.8. Designing effective Career Development Systems

A variety of tools and activities are employed for this purpose.
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Self Assessment tools
Individual Counselling
Job posting systems

Assessment Centers
Employee Development Program
Career programs for special groups
 Self-assessment tools
 They identify career goals of the employees, develop suitable action plans and point out
obstacles that come in the way.
 Two self-assessment tools are quite commonly used in organizations.
 Career-planning workshop - after individuals complete their self-assessments, they share
their findings with others in career workshops. These workshops throw light on how to
prepare and follow through individual career strategies.
 Career workbook - consists of a form of career guide in the question-answer format
outlining steps for realizing career goals. Individuals use this company specific, tailor-
made guide to learn about their career chances. This guide, generally throws light on
organization’s structure, career paths, qualifications for jobs and career ladders.
 Individual counselling
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 Employee counselling is a process whereby employees are guided in overcoming
performance problems.
 It is usually done through face-to-face meetings between the employee and the counsellor
or coach.
 Here discussions of employees’ interests, goals, current job activities and performance
department.
 Sometimes outside experts are also be called in.
 If supervisors act as coaches they should be given clearly defined roles and training.
 This is, however, a costly and time consuming process.
 Job posting system
Job posting systems are used by companies to inform employees about vacancies in the
organization through notice boards, newsletters and other company publications
 Assessment centers
 A number of performance simulation tests and exercises (tests, interviews, in-basket
exercise, business games) are used to rate a candidate’s potential in assessment centre
method.
 The performance on these exercises is evaluated by a panel of raters and the candidates
are given-feedback on their strengths and weaknesses.
 This feedback helps participants to assess were they stand and what is to be done to scale
the corporate ladder in future.
 Employee developmental program

 These consist of overall skill assessment and training efforts that organizations use to
groom their employees for future vacancies.
 Seminars, workshops, job rotations and mentoring programs are used to develop a broad
base of skills as a part of such developmental activities.
 Career programs for special groups
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 In recent years, there is growing evidence regarding dual career families developing
tensions and frictions owing to their inability to reconcile the differences between
family roles and work demands.
 Realizing these problems, organizations are providing a place and a procedure for
discussing such role conflicts and coping strategies.
 They are coming out with schemes such as part-time work, long parental leave,
child care centers, flexible working hours and promotions and transfers in tune
with the demands of dual career conflicts.
4.9. Competencies and Career Management

COMPETENCY
• Competencies comprise the knowledge, skills, values and attributes demonstrated

through behaviour that results in competent and superior performance.
• Competency describes what superior performers actually do on a job that produces

superior results.
• Boyatzis’ (1982) definition of competency and states that “a job competency is an

underlying characteristic of an employee—i.e., motive, trait, skill, aspects of one’s self-
image, social role, or a body of knowledge— which results in effective and/or superior
performance in a job.”
5 types of competency characteristics
1. MOTIVES: the things a person consistently thinks about or wants that cause action. Motives
“ drive, direct, and select” behavior toward certain actions or goals and away from others.
E.g. Achievement-motivated people consistently set challenging goals for themselves and use
feedback to do better.
2. TRAITS: physical characteristics and consistent response to situation or information.

E.g. reaction time and good eyesight are physical trait competencies of combat pilots.
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3. SELF-CONCEPT: A person’s attitude, values, or self-image.
E.g. Self-confidence, a person’s belief that he can be effective in any situation is a part of that
person’s concept of self.
4. KNOWLEDGE: Information a person has in specific content areas

E.g. A surgeon’s knowledge of nerves and muscles in the human body.
5. Skill: The ability to perform a certain physical or mental task.

E.g. A dentist’s physical skill to fill a tooth without damaging the nerve
Competencies In Career Management
Optimizing career prospects:
 This competence involves the ability to envision future opportunities, and having
determined broadly defined goals, to create and make own chances.
 It represents a form of well – considered opportunism.
 To undertake optimizing process successfully, a particular set of skills and
behavior need to be brought into play.
Career Planning – Plying to your Strength:
In career planning of employees, four steps are involved. They are
• Review how for their work are using their skills and satisfying their needs and interests.
• Identify their own development needs and what is required for effective performance.
• Obtain data from the experience of mentors, partners and other work colleagues
• Anticipate future changes and prepare for job opportunities that might arise.
Engaging In personal Development:
• Employers are no longer guarantee life long continuity of employment or upward

career progression.
27
• Therefore, more attention is to be paid to personal development rather than career
development alone.
• The forms of personal development vary, but the range I is increasing.
• For this purpose firstly, employee need to have a sufficient self awareness to review
and identify their development needs.
• Secondly they need to be effective learners with a positive attitude towards the
learning process.
Balancing work and Non-work:
The concern to balance work and non work is clearly a function of career stage.
• Being able to define one’s own work priorities and maintain one’s motivation in
the absence of externally defined checks on performance become increasingly
important.
• The issue of balancing work and non-work is problematic because of the
competing demands of work and personal life.
• The competence to balance work and nonwork is required by all those in the
workplace because the relationship between the two is never static, but ever
changing.
4.10. Competency Mapping Models
Competency Mapping
• Competency Mapping is a process of identifying the key competencies for an
organization and/or a job and incorporating those competencies throughout the various
processes (i.e. job evaluation, training, recruitment) of the organization.
28
• A competency mapping is a description of skills, traits, experiences and knowledge
required for a person to be effective in a job.
Competency Mapping Models
The one-size-fits-all competency model
• This model uses the data obtained from existing job descriptions and job analysis.
• The data pertaining to a class of jobs, for example all sale representatives will be
consolidated and key features will be identified to convert them into competency traits.
The general features like organizational mission, objectives and culture related competence
would be added to build a competency model for a particular type of employee.
The Multi Job Competency Model
There are three steps in this.
• In the first step, Competencies required for organizational function will be identified.
• Secondly these competencies will be classified into technical, social, marketing,
management, finance and general.
• In the third step, Combination of competencies will be grouped to draw a particular role
like finance manager, technical manager, quality manager like wise.
The Single Job Competency Model
• This is the traditional, time tested and commonly used method.
• A position that is most important and being performed well will be identified from a class
of positions (Jobs).
• Data will be obtained observing its incumbent while performing the job, discussing with
him/ her and other related departments, past records, decisions taken by that person,
formal job description etc.
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• The data so obtained will be used to build competency model for that particular position.
4.11.Equity and Competency based Compensation

Competency based Compensation
• The design of most compensation programs reward employees for carrying out their
tasks, duties and responsibilities.
• The job requirements determine which employees have higher base rates.
• Some organizations are emphasizing competencies rather than tasks.
• A number of organizations are paying employees for the competencies they demonstrate
rather than just of the specific task performed.
• Paying for competencies rewards employees to exhibit more versatility and continue to
develop their competencies.
• For example, a power loom operates single colour, two-colour, four colours, six colour
and multicolour weaves. The more colours, the more skill is required of the power loom
operator. Under a KBP or SBP system, the operator increases his or her pay as they learn
to operate the more complex processes like four colours, six colour and multi colour
weaves, even though sometimes they may be running only two colour weaves.
Outcomes of Competency Based Pay System
The benefits of the competency based pay system can be analyzed under two categories
(i) Organization related outcomes and
(ii) Employee related outcomes,
Organization Related Outcomes
 Greater work flexibility
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 Increased work effectiveness
 Fewer bottlenecks of work flow
 Increased worker output per hour
 More career enhancement opportunities
 Increased internal supply of work force
 Undisturbed work flow
 Enhanced organizational learning
Employee Related Outcomes
 Enhanced employee understanding of the organizational “ big picture”

 Greater employee self management capabilities
 Greater employee commitment
 Greater employee self enhancement
 Improved employee satisfaction
 Increased employee motivation
 Increased employee participation in training activities
 Increased individual learning
 Better and equipped work force
 Employee can withstand change in a better way
 With increased skill sets, employee feels confident.
Equity Based Pay
 People want to be treated fairly at work, which is referred as equity in management.

 Equity is defined as the perceived fairness of what of the person does compared with
what the person receives with respect to the other person.
 INPUTS are what the person brings to the organization, including educational levels,
age, experience, productivity, and other skills or efforts.
 The items received by a person or the Outcomes, are the rewards obtained in exchange
for inputs.
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 OUTCOMES include pay, benefits, recognition, achievement, prestige, and any other
rewards received.
 The outcome can be either tangible or intangible.
 For example, a software analyst who exchanges his or her talents and efforts (inputs)
for the tangible and intangible rewards (outputs) the employer provides.
 To determine perceived equity, the individual subconsciously compare talents, skills,
and efforts to those of other IT specialists both internally and other firms.
 That perception- correct or incorrect – significantly affects that person’s valuation of
the inputs and outcomes of himself as well as of others.
 However, a sense of inequity occurs when the comparison process results in an
imbalance between input and outcomes.
Stacy Adam’s theory on equity
 The essence of Equity Theory (J. S. Adams) helps us to understand how people
perceive pay fairness. Adams suggests that each of us compares our “inputs” (e.g.
work) and our “outcomes” (e.g. pay).
 If we deem this comparison “unfair,” Adams states that we may alter our inputs in
relation to how we perceive our outcomes.
 He also suggests that we alter our inputs based upon how we perceive the relative
inputs and outputs of so-called “relevant others” (e.g. co-workers).
 Therefore, we may work harder (i.e. input) to increase our rewards (i.e. output), or we
may withhold our services (i.e. input) because we believe our pay is much too low, as
compared to others’ pay levels.
 Recent research into Equity Theory even identifies people called “benevolents” who
feel discomfort if anyone is making more money than they are
Pay Openness
 Another equity issue concerns the degree of openness or secrecy that organizations
allow regarding their pay systems.
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 Pay information kept secret in closed-systems includes how much others make, what
raises others have received and even what pay grades and ranges exist in the
organization.
 A growing number of organizations are opening up their pay systems to some degree
by informing employees of compensation policies, providing a general description of
the compensation system, and indicating where an individual’s pay is within a pay
grade.
 Such information allows employees to make more accurate equity comparisons.
 The crucial element in an open pay system is that managers be able to explain
satisfactorily the pay differences that exist.
External Equity
 If an employer does not provide compensation that employees view as equitable in

relation to the compensation provided to employees performing similar jobs in other
organizations, that organization is likely to experience higher turnover.
 Other drawbacks include greater difficulty in recruiting qualified and high-demand
individuals.
 Also, by not being competitive the employers are more likely to attract and retain
individuals with less knowledge, skills, and abilities, resulting in lower overall
organizational performance.
 Organizations track external equity by using pay surveys.
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STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

CAREER & COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT

It consists of a series of properly sequenced role experiences leading to an increasing level of

1. The property of an occupation or organization

4. Involvement in one’s work

5. Stability of a person’s work pattern

Sequence of related jobs.

General Managerial competence

4.2. ROLES IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT

1. The Individual’s Role

2. The Manager’s responsibility

3. The HRD & Career Development Professional’s Responsibility

1. The Individual’s Role

 These competencies are:

1. Knowing What – Understanding the industry’s opportunities, threats, and requirements

2. The Manager’s responsibility

These roles include:

3. The HRD & Career Development Professional’s Responsibility

4. Become an expert in career information and assessment technologies

6. Promote learning through relationships at work

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

4.3. Career Stages

Stage views of adult development by:

Erikson’s Stages of Human Development

• Basic trust vs. mistrust

Basic trust vs. mistrust (0–2 years)

Autonomy vs. shame and doubt (2–4 years)

• If caregivers encourage self-sufficient behaviour, toddlers (very young child) develop a

Initiative vs. guilt (4–5 years)

Industry vs. inferiority (5–12 years)

Identity vs. Role Confusion (13–19 years)

Intimacy vs. Isolation (20–24 years)

Generativity vs. Stagnation (25–64 years)

Ego Integrity vs. Despair (65-death)

Career Planning & Process

Career planning seeks to meet the following objectives:

1. Attract and retain talent by offering careers, not jobs.

2. Use human resources effectively and achieve greater productivity.

3. Reduce employee turnover.

4. Improve employee morale and motivation.

4.4. Career Planning Process

2. Analysing career opportunities

3. Aligning needs and opportunities

This process consists of two steps:

4. Action plans and periodic review

• The matching process would uncover gaps.

4.5. Career Development Models

 Traditional model and

• Greenhaus’s five stage model is explained.

Stage 2: Organizational Entry (Age 18 – 25)

Stage 3: The early career (Age 25 – 40)

Stage 4: The Mid Career (Age 40 – 55)

Stage 5: The Late Career (Age 55 -Retirement)

Stage 1: Preparation of Work (Age 0-18)

Stage 2: Organizational Entry (Age 18 – 25)

Stage 3: The early career (Age 25 – 40)

Stage 4: The Mid Career (Age 40 – 55)

Stage 5: The Late Career (Age 55 - Retirement)

• The individual faces two challenges during this stage.

Contemporary view of career Development.

• Certainly trend in globalization, demographics, technology (both information and

Multiple Career Model

• A second example of contemporary view of career development is the notion of differing