Career Development

1. Career Development

2. Career Development • Ongoing, formal effort by organization to develop HRs; considers both employees’ and organization’s needs. 10-2

3. Why is Career Development Necessary? • Can reduce turnover costs. • Career plans likely tied to organization; so, employees are less likely to quit. • Can also improve morale, productivity, organizational efficiency. • Career development can have positive effect on how employees view their jobs and employers. 10-3

4. Why is Career Development Necessary? • For career development, organization has 3 Major Objectives: • Meet immediate and future HR needs. • Inform about potential career paths. • Use existing HR programs to the fullest. 10-4

5. Career Planning • Individual forms career goals and develops a plan for reaching those goals: • Career development and career planning must reinforce each other. • Career Planning looks at careers from viewpoint of Individual employees. • Career Development looks at individual careers from viewpoint of Organization. 10-5

6. Career Planning • Realistic Career Planning: individuals look at available opportunities in relation to their abilities. • With a career plan, person more likely to experience satisfaction while making progress along career path. 10-6

7. Career Planning • Good career path identifies Milestones: • Reaching milestones promotes feelings of Achievement. • Increases individual’s personal Satisfaction and Motivation. 10-7

8. Who is Responsible for Career Development? • Successful Career Development involves 3 Sources: • Organization • Employee • Employee’s Immediate Manager 10-8

9. Organization’s Responsibilities • Primary responsibility for instigating and ensuring that career development occurs: • Develop and communicate career options to employees. • Advise employee concerning possible career paths. 10-9

10. Employee’s Responsibilities • Primary responsibility for preparing individual career plans. • Only individual knows what he/she really wants out of a career. • Organizations can help, providing trained specialists to encourage and guide. • Individual is ultimately responsible. 10-10

11. Manager’s Responsibilities • Not expected to be a professional counselor, but manager can --- and should --- play key role in development of a subordinate’s career. • Manager should serve as a catalyst and sounding board. 10-11

12. Implementing Career Development • 4 Basic Stepsat the Individual level: • Individual’s Assessment of his/her abilities, interests, and career goals. • Organization’s Assessment of the individual’s abilities and potential. • Communication of career options and opportunities within the organization. • Career Counseling to set realistic goals and plans for accomplishment. 10-12

13. Individual Assessment • Many never analyze their abilities, interests, and career goals. • Organization can provide structure: • Self-Assessment Materials are available via Internet and other commercial outlets. • Some organizations develop forms and training programs for their employees. • Another option: Psychological testing. 10-13

14. Individual Assessment • Career plans usually require Acquisition of additional Training and Skills. • Assessment should be based on Reality. • Identify personal Strengths: not just abilities, but also financial resources available. • Helpful to develop personal vision statement: • Can help individual stay on track and avoid events that don’t positively relate to career. 10-14

15. Personal Vision Statement • Concise (1 or 2 sentences), and measurable: • Example: “I want to develop a career in HRM by gaining KSAs and credentials to become an HRM manager in a midsized insurance company in the southeast U.S., earning $85,000 per year by 2015.” • Share it with key stakeholders: current and potential employers and family. • Feedback can help in revising vision statement. Vision statement also may be revised as one progresses through career. 10-15

16. Assessment by the Organization • Organizations have information sources for assessing employees. • Most used source: Performance Appraisal • Assessment Centers also an excellent source of information. • Other potential sources: HR records reflecting education, work experience, etc. • Organization’s assessment usually involves both HR Dept. and individual’s immediate manager. 10-16

17. Communicating Career Options • To set realistic career goals, individual must know about options and opportunities. • Organization can facilitate awareness. • Another option: Share HR planning forecasts with employees. 10-17

18. Career Pathing • Specifics of progressing from one job to another in the organization: • Can be a sequence of developmental activities to make an individual capable of holding more advanced jobs. • Career Pathing involves: • Informal and Formal Education • Training • Job Experiences 10-18

19. Career Pathing • Career paths helpful when formally defined and documented: • Specific descriptions of sequential work experiences, and how different sequences relate to one another. • Career pathing most useful when used as part of overall career development process. 10-19

20. Career Self-Management • Closely related to Career Pathing. • Employees need to keep learning; Job held today may evolve into something different or may disappear entirely. • Gaining new skills and competencies allows employee to move to new position: • Payoff: more skilled, flexible employees. • Retention of these employees. 10-20

21. Career Counseling • Integrates different steps in career development process. • May be performed by employee’s manager, HR specialist, or a combination. • Immediate manager generally: • Has practical experience. • Knows the company. • Can make realistic appraisal of organizational opportunities. 10-21

22. Career Counseling • Managers reluctant to counsel, because they aren’t trained in the area. • Usually, managers with basic human relations skills are successful career counselors: • Caring attitude toward employees and their careers is of prime importance. • Being receptive to employee concerns and problems is also key. 10-22

23. Career Counseling – Suggestions for Managers • Recognize Limits of career counseling: • Main Responsibility for developing career plan belongs to individual employee. • Respect Confidentiality of the process. • Establish a Relationship: Be honest, open, sincere, and empathetic with subordinate. • Listen effectively: Natural tendency is to want to do most of the talking. 10-23

24. Reviewing Career Progress • Careers rarely go exactly according to plan: • Environment & personal desires Change. • Reviewing your career Plan and Situation allows you to make Adjustments so career development is not impaired: • Keep career plan Current and updated. • Complacency is the greatest danger once a career plan has been developed. 10-24

25. Career-Related Myths • Myth 1: Always room for one more person at the top. • Myth 2: Success is about being in the right place at the right time: • Can lead to complacency and a defeatist attitude, and minimizes planning. • Myth 3: Good subordinates make good superiors. • Consider requirements of new job in addition to present job performance. 10-25

26. Career-Related Myths • Myth 4: Career development/planning are HR functions: • Ultimate responsibility for career planning & development belongs to the individual. • Myth 5: All good things come to those who work long, hard hours. • Myth 6: Rapid advancement on a career path is largely a function of kind of manager one has: • Results in accepting a defensive role and ignoring importance of your own actions. 10-26

27. Career-Related Myths • Myth 7: To get ahead, determine your weaknesses and work hard to correct them: • Achieve career objectives by stressing things you do especially well. First capitalize on your strengths and then try to improve deficiencies. • Myth 8: Always do your best on all tasks. • Puritan work ethic, ignores that different tasks have different priorities. • Tasks most import for career goals should receive best effort. Other tasks should be done, not necessarily with one’s best effort. 10-27

28. Career-Related Myths • Myth 9: Separate home life and work life: • Spouse must understand career decisions. • Healthy person: interests other than a job. • Career objectives: subset of life objectives. • Myth 10: Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence: • Regardless of career path, another one always seems more attractive. • Avoid making career path changes hastily. 10-28

29. Career Plateaus • When likelihood of promotions is very low: • Virtually everyone reaches a career plateau. • Plateaued employees reach promotional ceiling long before they retire. • Plateauing may become more prevalent: • Employers depending more on older employees. • Current employees are generally educated and enter organizations at higher positions. • Plateauing does not indicate failure! 10-29

30. 4 Principle Career Categories • Learners – High advancement potential; perform below standard (e.g., a new trainee). • Stars – Do outstanding work and have full potential for continued advancement; on fast-track career paths. • Solid Citizens– Performance is satisfactory, but future advancement chance is small; Most employees in most organizations. • Deadwood– Performance at an unsatisfactory level; little (or no) potential for advancement. 10-30

31. Career Plateaus • Challenge for organizations is to: • Transform “learners” into “stars” or “solid citizens”. • Keep “stars” and “solid citizens” from slipping into “deadwood” category. • Neglecting “solid citizens” may result in their slipping into “deadwood” category. 10-31

32. Managing the Plateauing Process • Prevent Plateauees from becoming Ineffective: • Help plateaued employees adjust to solid-citizen category, realize they have not necessarily failed. • Point out opportunities for personal development and growth. • Integrate Career-related Information Systems: • Implement via performance appraisal. • Encourage communication between manager and appraised employee.

33. Reasons to Salvage “Deadwood” • Job Knowledge– usually in the job for a long time and have amassed considerable job knowledge. • Organizational Knowledge– not only know their jobs but also know the organization. 10-33

34. Reasons to Salvage “Deadwood” • Loyalty – Plateaued employees usually not job-hoppers; often have above-average loyalty to organization. • Concern for Well-Beingof Plateauees – Terminating all plateaued employees could have disastrous impact on other employees. • Also, may have a large number of plateaued employees. 10-34

35. Rehabilitating “Deadwood” • Look for Alternative methods of Recognition: • Working on special assignments • Participating in brainstorming sessions • Representing organization to others • Training new employees • Make Current Jobs more Satisfying • Lowers likelihood of ineffectiveness. • Relate employee performance to organizational goals. • Create competition in the job. 10-35

36. Rehabilitating “Deadwood” • Revitalization throughReassignment: • Systematic job switching to positions requiring similar skills and experience. • Reality-basedSelf-development programs: • Help them perform better in present jobs. • Change ManagerialAttitudes: • Managers may give up on --- and neglect --- plateaued employees • Only compounds the problem. 10-36

37. Impact Of Dual-Employed Couples • 72% of motherswith children under 18 are in the U.S. workforce. • Dual-employed couples can usually be classified as either dual-career couples ordual-earnercouples. 10-37

38. Dual-Career Couples • Both are highly Committed to their careers. • Both view work as essential to psychological sense of self and to personal identities. • View work as part of a career path with progressively more responsibility, power, and financial compensation. 10-38

39. Dual-Earner Couples • Do not see their employment as an integral part of their self-definition. • One (or both) defines employment as relating to rewards such as money for paying bills, opportunity to keep busy, or additional resources to help out. 10-39

40. Dual-Employed Couples • Challenges: • Lack of Time • Difficulties balancing personal and professional life • Advantages: • Increased income • Psychological benefits 10-40

41. Dual-Employed Couples • Can complicate Career Developmentof both: • Geographical move for one member creates a problem for the couple and respective organizations • Other potential Problems: • Child care; Balancing Schedules; Stress! 10-41

42. Dual-Employed Couples • Career-Planning can help address problems: • Many organizations have “family-friendly” policies and programs. • Proactive corporate programsinclude: • Child and Elder Care • Flexible Work Scheduling • Job Sharing and/or Part-Time work • Telecommuting • Parental Leave • Personal Time 10-42

43. Outplacement • Benefitprovided by employer to help employee leave organization and get job someplace else: • Organization gains by terminating employees before they become deadwood. • Employees gain by finding new jobs and preserving dignity. • Can have a positive effect on employee morale. 10-43

44. Outplacement • Outplacement Consultants or Firms: • Consultant briefed by manager before employee terminated. • Should have clear understanding of reason for termination. • Provides immediate support to employee after termination. • Growth of outsourcing has increased need for outplacement. 10-44

45. Outplacement Services • Skill Assessment • Establishment of new career objectives • Résumé preparation • Interview training • Generation of job interviews • Training for those who notify terminated employees • Office support • Spouse involvement • Individual psychological counseling 10-45

46. Glass Ceiling • Invisible, yet real or perceived, Barriers in organizational structures that appear to stymie executive advancement opportunities of women and minorities. 10-46

47. Glass Ceiling Commission • Created by the Civil Rights Act of 1991. • Mandate of the Commission: • Public attention on eliminating barriers. • Promote workforce diversity. • Staffed by Dept. of Labor, asked to look at: • Compensation systems & reward structures • How business fills management positions, and trains and develops for advancement 10-47

48. Breaking the Glass Ceiling • Commission’s Report found 3 Common Practicescontribute to the glass ceiling: • Word-of-Mouth Recruiting(or using executive search firms without stating interest in diverse array of candidates). • Inadequate access to Developmental Opportunitiesfor women and minorities. • Lack of Responsibilityamong senior management for EEO efforts. 10-48

49. Article 20: Strategic Organizational Diversity • How can the concept of diversity in investments be applied to human resources? • How does strategic organizational diversity reduce business risk? • 1-49

50. Article 21: Laid Off! • Why are older workers losing their jobs in disproportionate numbers? • Why are older workers finding it difficult to find new jobs? • 1-50