14

CAREER MANAGEMENT

A musician must make his music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to ultimately be at peace with himself.

 

—Abraham Maslow

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

 

—Buddha

The BW (Business World May 2008)-HR Anexi BlessingWhite Employee Engagement Survey 2008 measured engagement levels and various factors that drive engagement in India and compared it with data from surveys across the world. As a part of the survey, each person surveyed was asked to pick the single top item that he or she believed would most influence satisfaction at work and what got picked up by employees in India as well as the rest of the world was ‘career development opportunities and training’.

This data point is enough to drive home the relevance of career management in organizations. There is enough evidence all around which proves that people in India as well as in the world are joining and leaving organization in pursuit of careers of their choice.

14.1 UNDERSTANDING CAREERS

‘Career’, as Hall (1976) defines it, ‘is the individually perceived sequence of attitudes and behaviours associated with work-related experiences and activities over the span of the person's life’. It is a general line of interest that a person chooses for most part of his working life.

 

Career counsellors have defined ‘career development’ as ‘the total constellation of psychological, sociological, educational, physical, economic and chance factors that combine to shape the career of any given individual over the life span’ (McDaniels and Gysbers 1992). Some career events are spontaneous and depend on the situation, some are adaptive responses and others are on-the-job actions which could be predictable too. The external career includes the formal levels of hierarchy (as per the organizational structure) and roles set by the policies of the organization, whereas the internal career involves a subjective sense of where one is going in one's working life.

 

14.2 CAREER PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

Baruch (1996) indicated that career development systems should fit the needs of the individuals within the organization. Since people vary a lot in their needs, level of hierarchy, stage of career and other related characteristics, career planning and management must be widespread and diverse, so that it will fit the variety of employee needs. There are two broad processes that career development must follow: career planning, i.e., how employees plan and implement their own career goals, and career management, i.e., how organizations design and implement their career development programmes.

 

‘Career planning’ is an attempt by employees to become more aware of their skills, values, interests, choices and opportunities. Employees need to identify career-related goals and establish plans for achieving those goals. It involves ‘self-assessment’—where the employee learns more about himself. On the other hand, ‘career management’ is considered to be an organizational process that involves preparing, implementing and monitoring career plans, undertaken by an individual alone within the organization's career system. It helps in achieving a balance between individual career needs and organizational requirements. It enhances career satisfaction of employees and improves organizational effectiveness. However, integrating an employee and organizational needs may be difficult at times as the rate an employee grows and develops may not run parallel to that of the organizations.

 

In Sun Pharmaceuticals, the most precious of all employee assets are their R&D scientists. Such a field requires employees who are highly qualified—the brightest and the best talent, in order to ensure innovative thinking and working as leaders too. After an extensive study, they found that a sizeable portion of their work is repetitive too. Hence, using such scarce resource for such monotonous jobs was a waste of talent because such work was intellectually not stimulating for the scientists. Challenging job and lucrative compensation were both considered important by these professionals. Keeping all of this in mind, the HR team prepared a list of all the activities that are monotonous and could be performed by bright science and pharmacy graduates; after they are given sufficient training and coaching in the organization, they were trained to be technicians. Hence, they created a level below the scientists and segregated the work done by the R&D scientists. This innovative way of ‘career planning’ thereby created two separate career paths—one for the scientists and the other for the technicians.

 

14.3 CAREER PATHS

Hall and Marvis (1996) advanced the idea of ‘protean career’. The career concept ‘protean’ (named after Greek God Proteus, who could change his shape at will) is based on the notion that individuals drive their own careers, not the organizations and that individuals reinvent their careers over time as needed. As employees progress through life, they are in search of meaning and self-fulfilment and their careers are made of their choices and experiences (work, education and other related aspects). Each individual's career will be unique to him. Instead of progressing through a series of discrete and predictable changes, the protean career ‘encompasses any kind of flexible, idiosyncratic career course, with peaks and valleys, left turns and moves from one line of work to another and so forth’.

 

On the other hand, a career path is a flexible line of movement through which an employee may move during his stint with an organization.

 

14.3.1 The Linear Career Path

It consists of a series of progressive steps in an upward hierarchy to roles of responsibility and authority. This is the right career path for those who love achievement and power and are motivated by opportunities to make important things happen. Such people find it difficult to imagine any other definition of success (Figure 14.1).

 

14.3.2 The Expert Career Path

This involves a lifelong commitment to an occupational field. People who seek such a path focus on refining and developing their knowledge and skill in that particular area, for example, a technical expert, a professor or a doctor. The nature of the work they perform is an integral part of their self-identity. They do not lay great emphasis on promotions too.

 

Figure 14.1 Career path of an IT professional

 

14.3.3 The Spiral Career Path

In this career path, the employee makes periodic major moves across occupational areas, specialties or disciplines. These moves come every seven to ten years, a span that seems to permit individuals sufficient time to develop in-depth competence, if not full mastery, in many fields before moving on to new ones. For example, one could move from brand management to marketing. The new area does draw up the expertise gained from the earlier field and also throws open avenues for the development of an entirely new set of knowledge and skills.

 

14.3.4 The Transitory Career Path

Here, the employees move every three to five years from one field to a totally unrelated or different field. They normally seek variety and independence. They intentionally pursue transitory careers and often do not think of themselves as having a career.

 

14.3.5 Cafeteria Methods

These are among the new approaches to career pluralism in organizations which provide an array of career-track options, performance evaluation schemes, training opportunities and reward systems for employees to have career experiences that are in sync with their career aspirations and motives, keeping in mind that it should fit the organizational strategy too. The career environment in the organization should be dynamic, in order to entertain the changing mix of employees’ career motives and competencies, either as and when the employees quit or as they themselves change their career competencies.

 

14.3.6 Network Career Path

This consists of both vertical sequences of jobs and a series of horizontal opportunities. It recognizes the interchangeability of experience at certain levels and the need to broaden the experience at one level before the promotion to the higher level.

Dual career path: In the good old days, those employees who had been excellent performers—for example, engineers, scientists and professionals—often got promoted out of their area of specialization into a role in management. Instead of working in an area which were of interest to them, they got promoted to a job that they would not entirely comprehend and more often than not did not even enjoy doing the work assigned to them. Hence, came in the concept of ‘dual career path’, which provided for a career growth as specialists in areas other than general management such as a technical field, marketing and engineering. The compensation was in comparison to others at the equivalent levels. Thus the path to greater responsibility included management and non-management tracks. For example, an oil refinery in India could establish dual career paths for areas such as engineering and product development. Such an approach opens up more possibilities than the traditional pyramid structure.

 

14.3.7 Free Agent

Free Agents are employees who choose their own career path, i.e., who take charge of their own careers by being their own boss, they do not report to anyone per se, they work in areas that are of interest to them. They work on assignment basis either full or part time. They control their own careers and love work which offers a lot of challenges and opportunities.

14.4 CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Understanding career development is important due to the changing nature of the workforce. In fact, careers have undergone a sea change since the last decade and employees have now started taking charge of their careers, they want more self-fulfilment in work and want to be in total control of their career planning. They want opportunities for growth in their careers and also to expand their skill base. They also have started giving more importance to work life balance which includes not only work and more of it but also family and leisure. Some want fancy titles and designations, others want to explore and play different roles where they can express their own individual values. In response to these changing aspirations, organizations need to focus on designing and implementing relevant career systems, they would also have to engage ‘career counsellors’ or a ‘career coach’ in the long run.

 

Career development is an umbrella term that describes the many learning experiences, work assignments and mentoring relationships that move people ahead in their vocation. A company that aims to retain valuable people and to fill vacancies caused by resignations, retirement and growth must practice some form of career development. This practice creates a strong ‘bench’ of people who will one day lead the company as technical professionals, managers and senior executives.

Human resource teams will have to find creative ways of designing and implementing relevant career systems in organizations. In times to come, both the line managers and HR teams may experience greater pressure to provide career counselling to employees. For this reason, Coco-Cola conducts training for all their managers on how to conduct career development discussions with employees, keeping in mind their performance review plan.

14.4.1 Roles in Career Development

Employee's Role

For the employee, career planning means matching their strengths and weaknesses with the organization's opportunities. In other words, the employees want to capitalize on their strength and match them with the opportunities available in the organization. They should accept responsibility for their career, assess their interests, and skills and values and seek career information and resources, establish proper career goals and plans and utilize development opportunities.

Employer's/HR's Role

The career development depends on how long the employee has been with the organization. The organization would invest in an employee only after they have spent a few years in the organization. They could provide training and development opportunities including workshops, career programmes, career-oriented performance feedback and design career paths for employees. They could also offer academic learning assistance programmes such as sponsoring education courses for employees.

Manager's Role

The manager's role would be to provide effective and timely feedback, nominate employees for training and development programmes, provide developmental assignments support and participate in career development discussions. They could also play the role of a mentor, career counsellor and support employees in their development plans.

Mentor's Role

Quite a few studies suggest that having a mentor/mentors in the early years of a career helps in charting the employee's career path as most of the career concerns are taken care of during the mentoring process. The mentor should be objective enough to offer good career advice.

14.5 THE PSYCHOSOCIAL WORK ENVIRONMENT

The foundation of a career-conducive organization is a healthy psychosocial environment. A healthy workplace would possess some of the following characteristics, if not all of these features:

• Conflict, ambiguity and uncertainty are minimal.
• Job control commensurates with job demands and employee self-efficacy; support is available and provided as and when needed.
• The work environment allows employees to develop and move towards their ego ideal.
• The organization balances and enhances its subsystems without losing sight of its ultimate goal.
• There is positive morale and job satisfaction.
• Work provides reasonable amounts of challenge, variety, learning, recognition and meaning.
• The workplace is safe, not unpleasant and has good communication channels, feedback, respect, flexibility, equity and consistency.
• Supervision is competent, considerate and supportive.
• Employees receive decent pay and benefits.
• Work is non-interesting.
• Systems and technology are adapted to meet human needs.
• Employees participate in decision-making.
• Stress levels are under control.

Table 14.1 Features of career well-being

Career Characteristics	Facilitators of Well-being	Threats to Well-being
■ Career transitions	■ Opportunities for voluntary movement across roles, locations and adjustments to new role	■ Involuntary mobility, lack of opportunities for mobility problems adjusting to a new role
■ Interpersonal relationships	■ Support, feedback and recognition from manager and the organization	■ Interpersonal difficulties, lack of support, feedback or recognition
■ Relationship with organization	■ Autonomy and power	■ Adapting to organizational change, alienation and inequitable treatment
■ Work performances	■ Opportunity to use skills, performing well on assignments	■ Dissatisfaction with performance and work overload
■ Learning and development	■ Opportunity to develop skills	■ Lack of challenge, lack of opportunities to develop
■ Work–life issues	■ Work–life in balance	■ Difficulties with personal life spilling over into work

Table 14.1 summarizes some of the facilitators and threats to career well-being in an organization.

 

14.6 KALEIDOSCOPE CAREER MODEL

The Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM) is based on a sample of more than 3,000 individuals (the sample included only women) and a multimethod research design was used as a new model of careers. ‘Like a kaleidoscope that produces changing patterns when the tube is rotated and its glass chips fall into new arrangements, employees shift the pattern of their careers by rotating different aspects of their lives to arrange roles and relationships in new ways’ (Mainiero and Sullivan 2005). Each of the three parameters (i.e., authenticity, balance and challenge) of the KCM shifts over the course of an individual's life span to create different career patterns. All the three parameters are always present and always interacting but take on different levels of importance based on what is occurring in one's career life at that point and the fit between an employee's life and career. Over the course of the life span, as employees search for the best fit that matches the character and context of their life, the colours of the kaleidoscope shift in response, with one colour (parameter) moving to the foreground and intensifying in colour as that parameter takes priority at that time in one's life. The other two colours (parameters) lessen in intensity. As certain issues predominate at different points in the life span, usually one parameter takes centre stage, with the other parameters remaining active and taking on a secondary role at that time. These three parameters are:

• Authenticity: This means being true to oneself in the midst of constant interplay between personal development and work and non-work issues.

  Those companies which would want to support authenticity can include various elements as part of their career development programme. They could give the employee paid holidays to pursue community service activities; sponsor corporate wellness programmes, focusing on health and the whole person; establish a time bank of free hours that employees can use to pursue interests; form employee clubs for interests such as golf, tennis, chess, crafts or other leisure pursuits and offer workshops on spirituality and finding a higher purpose at work.

• Balance: This means making decisions so that the different aspects of one's life, both work and non-work, form a coherent whole.

  These days many organizations have adopted diverse means to factor in balance in their career development programmes. There are structured policies to allow the employee to opt out of a job and let the employee return to the organization. Working from home or working remotely has been allowed. Part-time workers are increasingly getting added to the workforce and unlike yesteryears they are at par with the full-time employee in terms of benefits etc.

• Challenge: Engaging in activities that permit the individual to demonstrate responsibility, control and autonomy while learning and growing.

  To support challenge as a parameter to retain highly qualified talent, HRD professionals can design career development programmes that include opportunities for young employees to take on responsibilities and position, which earlier could be given to experienced hands only. International posting/assignments, job rotation to increase skill development across functions and departments, systems that reward those employees who work on challenging assignments outside of the norm of their departments and systems to hold top-level managers accountable for the turnover and advancement rates are some of the methods being adopted by organizations.

14.7 APPROACHES TO CAREER DEVELOPMENT

14.7.1 The Life-span, Life-space Approach to Careers: Donald Super

Eli Ginzberg and Donald Super (1956) describe career development as occurring in stages that stretch across the individual's lifespan. According to this school of thought, career development is closely interlinked with the individual's physical, cognitive, emotional and social maturation.

 

The initial stage in career development occurring during childhood has been called the period of growth (Figure 14.2 and Table 14.2). In the beginning, the child's cognitive maturation is at a level where fantasy rules their interactions with the world. Time perspectives have not yet become tangible, and the child's expressions are often not rooted in reality.

As development continues, reality orientations become stronger. It is during these years that the rudimentary foundations of the individual's vocational self-concept are laid. According to Super, the rest of career development reflects the individual's attempt to implement this vocational self-concept.

The individual then moves into the period of exploration—a crucial period in the career development sequence. It is crucial because this period also coincides with the developmental stage of adolescence. Resolving the identity crisis is perhaps the most important task faced by the individual at this stage of development. Finding the answer to the question: ‘Who am I?’ lies at the heart of the identity crisis. Career choice is an essential aspect of discovering one's personal identity. From the point of view of career development, this is the time when the individual has the opportunity to informally ‘try out’ and explore various career possibilities. These opportunities could emerge spontaneously in school, through interactions with friends, information from the media and so on. A vital point to be noted is that while exploration will present the individual with information, the validity of this information is not known.

Facilitating interactions with career counsellors, promoting self-discovery and organizing work experience programmes are examples of career development activities that make significant contributions to helping the individual deal successfully with the career developmental task of exploration.

 

Figure 14.2 Super's developmental stages

 

Table 14.2 The life-span, life-space approach to careers

Career Development Stage	Age Range	Orientations, Career Developmental Tasks
■ Growth	0–14	■ Attending basic level school
■ Prevocational	0–3	■ Not oriented to work career or vocation
■ Fantasy	4–10	■ Thoughts about career are fantasy based
■ Interest	11–12	■ Likes and dislikes begin to colour thoughts about work
■ Capacity	13–14	■ Career thoughts are influenced by ideas of personal ability
■ Exploration	15–24	■ Attending college and initial awareness about work
■ Tentative	15–17	■ Able to express career choices tentatively
■ Transition	18–21	■ Choices are increasingly oriented to realities and facts
■ Trial	22–24	■ Initial career commitment and first job
■ Establishment	25–44	■ Moving from one job to another. Establishing a strong foothold in one's job
■ Trial	25–30	■ Job changes could continue as experiences accrue
		■ Developing and focusing on one's job
■ Stabilization	31–44	■ Settles into a job and finds stability
■ Maintenance	45–65	■ Growth and development within the chosen career area
		■ Developing and focusing on one's job and/or finding a second career
■ Decline	65 plus	■ Preparation to leave the work force
■ Declaration	65–70	■ Work activity decreases and slows down
■ Retirement	71 plus	■ Leaving active employment

 

The next stage in career development has been called the period of establishment. Occurring during early adulthood, this is a time when the individuals actually make a career choice and establish themselves as workers. The career direction that is chosen could be strongly influenced by the nature of the individual's experiences during the preceding periods of growth and exploration.

Maintenance is described as the next stage in career development and is a time mainly of building one's life as a professional in the chosen area through continuous adjustments and efforts to improve one's position.

The final stage is the period of decline when one's outputs as a worker are said to decrease and preparations for retirement begin.

 

Figure 14.3 Holland's six categories of personality and occupation

 

14.7.2 RIASEC Model: Holland

In its modern form, trait-and-factor theory stresses the interpersonal nature of careers and associated lifestyles as well as the performance requirements of a work position. Holland (1970) identified six categories in which personality types and occupational environments can be classified: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional (RIASEC). According to prestige levels, investigative (I) occupations rank highest, followed by enterprising (E), artistic (A) and social (S) occupations, which have roughly the same level of prestige. The lowest levels of prestige are realistic (R) and conventional (C) occupations (Gottfredson, 1981). The theory of career choice propounded by John Holland more than 40 years ago (Holland, 1959) is perhaps the most well-known and widely studied career theory in the history of career psychology. Holland classified employees and environments into types. ‘Type’ by definition is a conglomeration of traits which can serve as a measure for categorizing people into groups. In Holland's formulation, there are six types of people and work environment. These are the realistic, investigative, artistic, social enterprising and conventional (RIASEC) (Figure 14.3).

The realistic type is a person who is most comfortable being involved in activities that are concrete and based on clearly defined systems and norms. Conversely, the realistic type of person is not comfortable in social contexts that require interpersonal skills, expressive ability and situations that require the expression of emotional sensitivity. Engineers, machine operators and mechanics are examples of professionals who would fit into Holland's realistic type.

The investigative type is analytical in orientation and enjoys drawing conclusions from systematic and objective observations. Repetitive and routine activities are likely to be avoided by this group of people. Researchers, doctors, detectives are examples of the investigative type.

The artistic type thrives on being expressive and original. This type tends to be unconventional and deeply sensitive to personal feelings, thoughts and ideas. Activities that are orderly and mechanical are likely to be unattractive to this group. Actors, designers, musicians and authors would demonstrate the characteristics of the artistic type.

The social type is strongly oriented to human interactions. These people are sensitive to human needs, nuances of emotions, thinking patterns and other aspects of human behaviour. Activities that occur in non-human situations are likely to be avoided. Counsellors, nurses, teachers and social workers would fit into the social type.

The enterprising type is typically self-driven. An individual from this group would enjoy organizing people, objects and resources to create systems and structures for the attainment of goals and targets. The enterprising type is likely to be uncomfortable in work situations that are repetitive and do not allow for leadership or the expression and implementation of personal ideas. Sales people, managers and politicians are said to possess the characteristics of the enterprising type.

The conventional type tends to find the highest level of comfort in situations that are organized and predictable. They are likely to enjoy activities that require routine and repetition. Unpredictable, disorderly situations and activities that require innovation are likely to be avoided. Accountants, bankers and receptionists would fall into the category of the conventional type.

In an analysis of census data using the Holland codes, Reardon, Bullock and Meyer (2007) confirmed that the distribution across Holland's types is asymmetrical. They found that in 1960, ‘the Realistic area had the largest number of individuals employed and that the Artistic area had the fewest number employed’. The gap between the number of people employed in the realistic and enterprising areas shrunk during the four decades that followed such that in 2000 there were approximately equal numbers of people employed in both areas. Interestingly, the investigative area more than doubled during this time, whereas the other four areas remained relatively stable. Regardless of age, between 75 per cent and 85 per cent of male workers were employed in the realistic and enterprising areas; women were more varied and concentrated in conventional, realistic, social and more recently enterprising areas.

14.7.3 Career Anchors: Edgar Schein

A person's career anchor according to Schein (1978) is his self-concept, consisting of (1) self-perceived talents and abilities, (2) basic values and (3) the evolved sense of motives and needs as they pertain to ones career. One needs to have life and occupational experience for them to evolve. It works as a stabilizing force as the individual's self-concept has been formed and the employee will not give it up if forced to make a choice. In order to make wise career choices, one must become aware of their career anchors. The eight career anchors according to Schein (1978) are:

 

Security/Stability

Employees anchored here experience the most severe problems because of the shift in organizational policies from guaranteeing ‘employment security’ to touting ‘employability security’. What this means internally to the employee is that the base of security and stability has to shift from dependence on an organization to dependence on oneself. Such Employees would seek to have secure and stable jobs. They would take very few risks in their career and strive to join stable organizations.

Autonomy/Independence

Employees anchored here find the occupational world an easier place to navigate. The employees of this group who have already built autonomous careers will be well adapted to the future, but those who have depended on secure jobs while planning to break out may be highly vulnerable to the current restructuring of the labour market even though their anchor is in line with future options. They would like to opt for assignments which have a lot of independence to operate. If found successful, they may well become the role models for future career incumbents.

Life Style

Employees anchored here prefer to have a balance between their work and personal life. Such employees will begin dual career situations, they will think, plan and act more as social units, and organizations will have to consider how to maintain support systems for such units in the form of child care, job-sharing opportunities, part-time work, sabbaticals and other adaptive modifications of the traditional 9 to 5 job. To retain their best employees, organizations must, therefore, be able to challenge them and meet their needs. No longer is it desirable to use golden handcuffs or promises of a life-time security. Even the way work is defined will gradually change as the boundaries between jobs organizations between work and family become more fluid and ambiguous.

Technical/Functional Competence

Employees anchored here are a confused lot, as they are aware of the importance of knowledge and skill, but at the same time they are not comfortable in having technical competence as their anchor. Most would admit that they enjoy having their competence valued, but at the same time they are in a dilemma as they perceive that rewards in organizations are for those who ‘climb the ladder’. They are not too clear if in the long run organizations would continue to educate and train them because knowledge and skill do tend to become obsolete. In order to remain technically/functionally competent, it would require constant updating and re-learning of new skill sets on a regular basis. A technical/functionally anchored person recognizes that the skill set and emotional make-up that is needed for such jobs is fundamentally different too.

General Managerial Competence

Employees anchored here feel that great rewards go with high-level general management jobs. In the future the need for general management will increase and will be pushed to relatively lower levels in the organization. As work becomes technically complex, it requires greater coordination and integration at lower levels. In today's world, layers of management are being cut off and organizations are being flattened and re-designed around multiple shifting project teams. The skills of general management, i.e., analytical, interpersonal and emotional competence, will, therefore, be needed at these lower levels. Team managers and project managers will have to have general management and leadership skills above and beyond their technical understanding of the tasks at hand. One does not become a general manager until one is at department or division level, and promotion to general management implies a big jump on the organizational career ladder.

Entrepreneurial Creativity

The dynamic complexity of industry will put a premium on creativity, and it is creativity that is at the core of this anchor. Employees anchored here are drawn to the idea that they can develop their own business, and, as the world becomes more dynamic and complex, the opportunities for individuals with this anchor will increase dramatically. The need for new products and services derived from information technology or from any other field will continue to increase. The increasing mobility that is available in the world today will make it more and more feasible for the entrepreneur to go to whatever part of the world that is most hospitable to their ideas.

Service/Dedication to a Cause

The number of people showing up with this anchor is gradually increasing. More and more young people, both early life as well as mid-life career occupants, report that they are feeling the need not only to maintain adequate income, but to do something meaningful in a larger context. There is much more awareness on social issues now than decades ago. The service anchor combined with the entrepreneurial anchor is already creating organizations devoted to recycling, privatizing health care and welfare and managing the environmental problems through products that use less energy and waste management.

Pure Challenge

Those that opt for these careers manage to overcome impossible odds, solving unsolved problems and winning out over competitors. There will not be a shortage of challenges to be met, so long as this group is willing to become active learners.

In summary, each of the anchor categories still attracts a set of people, but working out of a given anchor can become problematic as the world of work and organizational structure becomes more turbulent. The main effect is that people will have to become more self-reliant and figure out where their particular anchor best fits into the emerging occupational structure. The ability to analyse oneself, as well as the ability to figure out what kind of job is available and how that job will evolve, becomes a crucial skill.

14.8 CAREER DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS

Well-designed career programmes are effective tools in attracting and retaining employees. Organizations now link their career development initiatives to business objectives and at the same time develop employees to meet their career goals. When companies invest in an employee's future, most employees in return also feel the organization is doing something valuable for them (Figure 14.4). A few popular career development initiatives are described in the following sections.

14.8.1 Self-assessment Tools

These could be done by the employee or could be organized by the company. Employees that undergo this process review their life roles, interests, skills, likes, dislikes and work attitudes. Plans are both short term as well as long term and employees are also coached to design action plans to meet the identified goals. During a self-assessment, employees gather information about themselves in order to make an informed career decision. Some of these tests could also include the following: values, interests, personality and skills, for example, the Myers–Briggs-type indicator (MBTI) does assessment of personality. It measures the differences in traits between individuals. It looks at how one perceives information (sensing vs intuition), energizes (extroversion vs introversion), and demonstrates their lifestyle (judging vs perceiving) and makes decisions (thinking vs feeling). When the test is scored, the individuals are given a four-letter code, i.e., extroversion intuitive feeling judging (ENFJ), indicating their preferences.

 

Figure 14.4 Career development interventions

 

14.8.2 Career Planning Books and Workshops

There are tons of career books that can be bought by the employee and by the company and kept in the library; some of them are exercise based too. There are also quite a few Internet-based career services available for free. Career planning workshops use experiential-based exercises in a formal manner and prepare the employee for their career. If it is done in a group, then the employees helps each other in the feedback sessions, so that the employee keeps a check on the plan and can review the same with the necessary alternatives.

 

14.8.3 Employee Career Counselling

Most organizations across the globe engage the help of career counsellors. in India, the trend should catch up sooner or later. Career counselling helps employees to review their career plans and goals with the aid of career tests, workbooks/exercises and one-to-one counselling. As this is done on a one-to-one basis, it does tend to be very time consuming, but yields good results.

14.8.4 Internal Jobs Posting System (IJP), Promotions and Transfers

These are the most common ones. They consist of posting an employee at their preferred location as and when the promotion arises. Promotions generally happen after a performance review, and transfers take place either based on the employees’ or employers’ request and depend on the vacancy in that particular location or role.

14.8.5 Psychological Tests

They consist of written tests and questionnaires that help employees in identifying their career, personality and interest. These tests can be purchased by the organization or the employee online. Some popular tests are Myers–Briggs test of Inventory (MBTI) Strong Vocational Interest Inventory Holland (http://www.careerkey.org), Big five personality test (a free test Web site link http://bigfive-personalitytest.com) and the Career Anchor Inventory by Edgar Schein Career Anchor Inventory by Edgar Schein.

14.8.6 Assessment and Development Centres

Many companies are using assessment and development centres for employee career growth. They are used for career progression, promotion and potential development. Employees that participate in these centres engage in situational exercises, in business games, in basket exercises, in group discussion, in role plays etc. Once the feedback is given, it is then used for improving their insight, career plans and goals.

14.8.7 Succession Planning

Human resources and senior managers review their employees for the next level of growth. Organizations need to create a talent pool and develop those that have high potential. Succession planning is used for all levels in the organization. Organizations stand to gain a higher level of commitment from employees and an increase in employee retention too.

For example, in NTPC a high-level succession planning committee (SPC) initiates the development of three potential successors per position three to four years before the retirement of the employee. It is best that the companies strategically plan their succession planning well in advance so that companies do not have to panic during contingency. At NTPC, the Board, CEO as well as HR play critical roles. The Board is responsible for conveying to the CEO that the employees’ performance will also be measured by their ability to manage succession. Additionally, the Board, in consultation with the CEO, is responsible for detailing out the criterion of selection for the next CEO. The CEO, on the other hand, needs to identify high-potential leaders and spend disproportionate resources to develop them. The CEO needs to constantly monitor the outcome of succession planning activities at all levels in organization. HR acts as a facilitator to the process of succession planning by providing functional expertise in the area of potential/competency assessment by effectively managing all the developmental programmes for potential successors.

14.8.8 Job Rotation/Job Enlargement Initiatives

An employee could be moved to another function after two to three years in the organization. For example, if they are in IT and want to move to operations (provided there is a position vacant in operations), they could request their manager and human resources to review their candidature for the new role. Job enlargement is another way of increasing the employees’ responsibilities and thereby increasing the scope of their role too.

14.8.9 Learning and Development Initiatives

This could help in the career growth of the employee. In case employees lack the knowledge of a certain skill or need to enhance their current level of skills, organizations may use this to develop their employees for future roles. They can be either internal that are managed by internal employees or external—in the form of workshops and seminars. Some of the common programmes for development are assessment centres, job rotation and company-sponsored various courses.

14.8.10 Mentoring

This has been defined as ‘a developmental, caring, sharing, and helping relationship where one person invests time, know-how, and effort in enhancing another person's growth, knowledge, and skills… in ways that prepare the individual for greater achievement in the future’ (Shea, 1994). In essence, mentoring promotes learning and development as the mentor, usually a person experienced in a field or industry, acts as a ‘wise guide’. Career guidance is advantageous to employees in many ways:

• It enhances their understanding of the work environment in which they live.
• It assists in identifying pathways to future education and training.
• It facilitates the transfer of knowledge to the employee in a phased manner.
• It equips the employee to have control over their future.
• It helps employees evaluate appropriate and relevant career and course of information in a planned manner.

14.8.11 High-potential Employee Programmes

These are ideally for those that get an A+/A ‘outstanding’ rating during the review process; they are the ‘blue-eyed employees’ of the company. The management sees strong potential in them for grooming as future leaders in the company. They could be potential successors to key roles too. High-potential employee programmes have been described in detail in Chapter 16.

14.8.12 Career-related Programmes for Other Target Groups

There are some development programmes that specially target group of employees who for different reasons would need specially designed career-related programmes. These special target groups include fast-track employees’, programme outplacement programmes and programmes for women and those with disabilities.

Fast-track Employees’ Programmes

Companies have a fast-track programme that helps in the upward movement of employees in a faster mode compared to others in the same band. Companies also have specially designed programmes (assessment centre approach) during the recruitment process and in the first six months to one year of joining. Organizations need to constantly provide enriching assignments, training and development, effective review and counselling feedback mechanism and faster career growth to retain these highly motivated employees.

Outplacement Programmes

This refers to the help that companies give in assisting terminated employees in finding an assignment and aiding in transition to the new employment. Such programmes could be useful for mid- or late-career employees who have been laid off; it may include a counselling session and training in interviews and other related aspects too, though this practice is not prevalent in Indian companies.

Programmes for Women

Many organizations have started introducing women-oriented recruitment drives. Tata Second Careers have also started in helping professional women who have taken a break from working life for a few years. In finding part-time/full-time occupations.

Programmes for Those with Disabilities

Employees with disabilities are also hired by Indian companies, though this practice has commenced just a couple of years back. Employers are running special programmes to empower the differently abled employees to perform in their jobs. These not only include the traditional training but also specialized work conditions to make it easy for them to perform.

14.9 ROLE OF HR IN CAREER MANAGEMENT OF EMPLOYEES

The responsibility for career development now lies with the employee and not with the organization any longer. Employees should prepare themselves for a career that has frequent changes in employers and also the kind of work they perform will differ accordingly. Employees should be more flexible in honing their knowledge and skills; they should not cling to a particular job or work or even an organization. They should move with the times, learning to adapt and letting go too.

Nevertheless, a ‘career ladder’ should be designed by HR professionals to suit the need of all employees. A career ladder is a logical series of stages that move talented and promotable employees through progressively more challenging and responsible positions. HR would then systematically analyse the employees’ current level of skills, experience and match those against the skills and experiences needed at the next step up the ladder. Gaps are then addressed through a plan that involves some combination of formal training, special assignments and mentoring. For example, in the media business, a person with senior editorial aspirations might be progressively moved through various positions in production or marketing and then finally to the role of a assistant editor and then to an editor, if he has gained sufficient knowledge and skills required for the editorial role.

• A career ladder helps employees to avoid a ‘career plateau’ (a point in a career where the likelihood of additional hierarchical promotion is very low) and the feeling of being stuck. If employees want to improve and move ahead, they should always feel that they are continuously learning and being challenged with a manageable new set of responsibilities.

Human resources should assist employees in the following ways:

• Providing a career ladder for every employee in the organization especially the fast-track and high-potential employees. They should also provide scope for improvement for those who have not performed too well.
• For employees who are to be promoted, identifying gaps between the skills and experience they now have and those they would need to step into new roles. Then, fill those gaps with training and appropriate assignments by designing developmental programmes that improve the employability and engage them with challenging assignments.
• Do not allow good performers to get career plateaued.
• Make sure that everyone who needs a mentor has a suitable and qualified one. Mentoring is one fruitful way by which human resources can create an environment for directing careers of employees.
• Taking stock of future leadership requirements and designing the career path of capable and performing employees.

14.10 CAREER MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

Nowadays, employees have become demanding. They expect a degree of autonomy in their careers and they also want to have an exposure to diverse kinds of roles that would help them in developing their competencies. They also expect HR to play a major role in giving them career advice and aid them in career planning.

To prepare a career framework, one needs to first defines all the distinct career streams that the organization has. Then one needs to first define the various qualifications, relevant work experience, key responsibilities skills—functional/technical and behavioural. One also needs to define the performance-based career paths, i.e., performance levels, competencies and the necessary training that are a must for the role. Once the rough sketch of the framework is designed, then this should be a feature in the IJPs (Internal Job Posting). Selection then should happen based on the defined criteria. Most organizations also offer fast-track growth for high-potential employees. To effectively implement this system, it is important to orient and build skills in potential managers and leaders (Figure 14.5).

The career management framework is best explained with an example: Nucleus Software Exports Ltd is a company that provides software solutions to Banking and Financial Services industry. They identify managerial level employees who are high performers and those with high potential too. After an initial screening, i.e., based on their performance track record and service length in the organization, the identified employees are requested to fill in a ‘career progression questionnaire’, which captures their growth aspirations. The questionnaire seeks to understand the preferences of the employee with respect to cross-functional movement. Their managers do play a role too by making necessary recommendations.

The next step is that the employees undergo a 360-degree assessment, which helps them to evaluate their competencies for different roles. The questionnaire also evaluates the employees on their value system of the company and the ‘must have’ competencies. The assessment is robust—it has self-assessment, supervisor assessment, one peer assessment and an assessment of two direct subordinates. Then, the aggregate scores of the various assessments (other than self-assessment) are consolidated and compared with the self-assessment score. This helps them in identifying the gaps and an exhaustive training plan is chalked out with specific interventions and time frames. Once the employee completes the programme, then they are ready to take on the new role. During this process, they have multiple interaction with their managers, business leaders and human resources who share their experiences and best practices in the industry.

 

Figure 14.5 Career management framework

 

1. Harvard business review on managing your career: This is a collection of reflective articles that walk readers through tough career challenges—from effective time management to part-time arrangements to launching a new career. The articles in this book include: Reawakening Your Passion for Work, Goodbye Career, Hello Success, The Right Way to Be Fired, Managing Oneself, A Second Career: A Possible Career, Five Strategies of Successful Part-Time Work and Managing Your Boss.
2. Harvard business review on bringing your whole to work: This is a collection of articles that target the overstressed executives and give insight into who they could better it for themselves. The articles in this series are: Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Under Perform, The Human Moment at Work, The Corporate Athlete, Are You Working too Hard, Sleep Deficit: The Performance Killer, Decisions and Desire, Leading by Feel and The Dangers of Feeling Like a Fake.

   (Note: some of the Web sites could be paid sites)

3. www.careermaze.com
4. www.career-intelligence.com
5. www.assessment.com
6. www.careeranchorsonline.com
7. www.careerkey.org
8. www.self-directed-search.com

 

1. How can career interventions help an employee in charting out his own career development plan?
2. Describe the different career paths an employee can follow.
3. Describe the various career anchors and in what way could career anchors help HR professionals.
4. What would be the role of HR in the career development of employees?
5. Nowadays, the role of managers encompasses that of a ‘career coach’; list down a few suggestions you would give to your manager about the new role.
6. Why should employees seek feedback from others regarding their job performance and career plans?
7. What is the role of employees, managers, mentors and organizations in career development process?

1. Group exercise: List several career development programmes that would be useful for employees planning on making a career change. For example, suppose they have worked in one area for seven years (engineering) and have now decided to change jobs (management). How should they prepare for this change?
2. Individual exercise: What suggestions would you recommend for the various types of assistance needed in outplacement programmes? (Students are requested to browse the net and review outplacement programmes done in other countries such as Singapore, the UK and the USA, as most Indian companies do not follow this practice.)
3. Group/individual exercise: As a career development tool, mentoring has been attached to both potential benefits and problems for employees and organizations. If you were told by your manager to be a mentor to a group of MBA students, what would your concerns be and what would you do differently to ensure that the mentoring process is a positive experience for the newly joined recruits.
4. Individual exercise: Write a two-page essay on the subject ‘Where would I want to be career- wise within three years, five years and ten years after completion of my MBA’.
5. Group exercise: Approach organizations from various sectors and develop a report on the career initiatives that they have taken in the last three years in the organization.

 

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