Engineering Management International, 1 (1983) 249-258 249

Ek;evier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam -Printed in The Netherlands

PLANNING A CAREER PATH FROM ENGINEERING TO

MANAGEMENrC
William E. Souder
A-ofessor of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, and Director of the Technology Management Studies Group,
the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (U.S.A.J

ABSTRACT

In order to become successful managers, jobs and pathways are provided by the or-
engineers must learn new skills, acquire new ganization, when the performance require-
var’ues and re-orient their thinking. The ments for these jobs are made explicit,
transition from engineering to management when the criteria for promotions are spelled
requires time for the individual to mature, out, and where the salary brackets are con-
a progression of on-the-job experiences, and sistent with this information. Useful career
careful career planning. Career planning is planning can be carried out without this
best viewed as part of a total human re- system approach, as the case study herein
source management system of goal-setting, demonstrates. But the systems approach
performance appraisals, training, and con- makes career planning much more effective,
tinuous career counseling. Career planning and generally assists the engineer in making
becomes most effective where a variety of a better transition to management.

INTRODUCTION CAREER PLANNING

l~any young engineers will chose lifelong Career planning is the continuous process
rewarding careers in engineering. Others will through which an individual plans for profes-
choose to move into fulfilling management sional growth, the orderly progression of
careers. Still others will become victims of future jobs, and the assumption of increased
“career drift,” moving aimlessly through a responsibilities, A career plan is the roadmap
variety of unrewarding jobs. that results from this planning process. The
A rewarding and challenging lifelong career roadmap specifies the best ways for an
is central to the well-being, happiness and individual to grow and develop, through a
development of every individual. How can a related succession of job milestones.
young engineer achieve this desired state of Career planning can help to insure that
affairs? How can career drift be avoided? assignments are consistent with the engineer’s
What factors should be considered in choosing life goals. It can help engineers decide
between staying in engineering or moving whether to stay primarily in technical work
into management? Career planning can help or move to administrative work, and how and
answer these questions (Souder, 1983). when to make this transition. For those
engineers who decide to remain in technical
- work, career planning can help to insure that
*This paper is taken from the author’s book,Project their assignments are challenging and reward-
Selection and Economic Appraisal, Van Nostrand ing, and that they do not become technically
Reinhold, New York, to appear. obsolete as time passes.

0167-5419/83/$03.00 o 1983 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

250

THE CAREER PLANNING PROCESS

Step 1: SELF-ASSESSMENT - a thor-
ough, candid self-assessment
The career planning process usually in- of one’s own skills, abilities,
volves the combined efforts of the employee, interests, aspirations
the supervisor and a professional career Recycle tl
counselor, over a period of several months. Step 2: DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
FROM STEP 1 WITH PRO-
As outlined in Fig. 1, the complete process
consists of eight overlapping
1977; Souder, 1980; Glueck, 1982).
Career
“hard-thinking”
planning involves
steps (Burack,

considerable
by all parties. The employee
Recycle tl
Step 3:
FESSIONAL

DETERMINATION
SPACE
COUNSELOR
AND SUPERVISOR

AND
OF LIFE-
STAGE
GOALS - individual deter-
is challenged to be introspective and self-
mines the specific goals
evaluative about family stages, personal
hoped to be achieved at
wants and career objectives, as a basis for each stage or “space” in
specifying a life-plan and a set of career life; these may be chron-
goals. The professional counselor can play icled by age points, in-
an important role in helping employees crements of time or other
milestone points
with these aspects, through personal inter-
view methods, by administering various skill- Step 4 : DETERMINATION OF OR-
tests and by exposing the individual to GANIZATIONAL JOBS -
various literature. The counselor can also the population of jobs with-
help in specifying an optimum training in the organization are listed
and characterized (skill levels
package for each employee. The supervisor
required, responsibility lev-
can play a helpful and supportive role in els, training and education
acquainting the individual with other jobs needed, etc.)
within the organization, and in describing the
Step 5 : DISCUSSIONS WITH PRO-
skills required to succeed within each of
FESSIONAL COUNSELOR
these jobs.
Though other persons may thus provide
assistance, the effectiveness of career planning
Recycle t1
Step 6:
AND SUPERVISOR

DETERMINATION OF CA-
depends primarily on the initiative of the in- REER GOALS - fitting of
results from steps 1, 3 and

Ii
dividual in gathering useful career informa-
4 into a career goal plan;
tion, developing valid self-appraisals, setting the goals should be speci-
attainable goals and defining appropriate fied for the short range
pathways. The individual’s strengths and (one year or less), the in-
weaknesses must be honestly and forthright- termediate range (one to
ly evaluated. Efforts must be made to gather five years) and the long
range (five to fifteen years)
information about alternative jobs and
Recycle
careers. Goals and plans must be kept reason- step 7 : ~ACQUISITION OF NECES-
able and consistent with the individual’s SARY TRAINING AND
capabilities and the available alternative jobs. EDUCATION - both for-
mal and informal training
These plans must be kept flexible, and the
may be specified, as needed,
individual must be willing to readjust the both on-the-job and out-
plans to changing information and circum- side; an optimum package
stances as time passes. will be specified

Step 8 : MONITORING OF PLANNED

ACTIONS
FROM ENGINEER TO MANAGER

Career planning is important for everyone. Fig. 1. The career planning process.
 251

It is especially important for the young are necessary, but they are not sufficient
engineer who wants to move into a manage- functions for managerial effectiveness.
ment career. Engineers often make good Getting things done through people requires
managers. But they must learn how to be the manager also to be effective at motivat-
good managers. ing and leading others, Note that the relative
importance of the seven functions listed in
What is management? Table 1 may vary with the Zevel of manage-
ment. Top management success requires an
Management is the art of getting things emphasis on planning, organizing and con-
done through others. In order to effectively trolling. Middle-level management success
work through others, a successful manager often requires great skills in staffing, direct-
must be able to perform competently the ing and leading. Lower-level managers must
seven functions of management listed in be especially effective at motivating and
Table 1. Planning, organizing, staffing, direct- leading others.
ing and controlling are the fundamental func-
tions of management. If any of these five Engineering vs. management
functions are lacking, the management
process will not be effective. Note that these As Table 2 shows, the functions of manage-

TABLE 1

The functions of management

Planning = setting goals and objectives and deciding in advance what actions are to be taken; Planning is a
process of realistically anticipating future problems, analyzing them, estimating their likely im-
pacts and determining actions that will lead to the desired outcomes, objectives or goals.

Organizing = establishing interrelationships between people and things, in such a way that human and material
resources are effectively focused toward achieving the goals of the enterprise; Organizing in-
volves grouping activities and people, defining jobs, delegating the appropriate authority to each
job, specifying the reporting structure and interrelationships between these jobs, and providing
the policies or other means for coordinating these jobs with each other.

Staffing = manning the various jobs and positions that have been defined by the organizing function; Staffing
involves appraising and selecting candidates, setting the compensations and rewards structure for
each job, training personnel, conducting performance appraisals and performing salary administra-
tion.

Directing = guiding and supervising subordinates, and commanding the direction of human and non-human
resources toward the goals of the enterprise; Directing involves explaining, providing instructions,
pointing out proper directions for the future, clarifying assignments, orienting personnel in the
most effective directions and focusing resources.

Motivating = energizing people to show an inner-directness and enthusiasm in pursuing the goals of the enter-
prise; Motivating refers to the interpersonal skill to encourage outstanding human performance
in others, and to instill in them an inner drive and a zeal to pursue the goals and objectives of
various tasks that may be assigned to them.

Leading = encouraging others to follow the example set for them, with great commitment and conviction;
Leading involves setting examples for others, establishing a sense of group pride and spirit, and
instilling allegiance.

Controlling = checking deviations from the plans and taking corrective actions; Controlling involves monitoring
achievements and progress against the plans, measuring the degree of compliance with the plans,
deciding when a deviation is significant, and taking actions to realign operations with the plans.
252

TABLE 2

Engineering vs. management

What engineers do What managers do

Emphasize accuracy and Rely heavily on intuition, take

mathematical precision educated guesses and try to be
“about right”

Exercise care in applying sound Exercise .leadership in making deci-

scientific methods, on the basis sions under widely varying condi-
of reproducible data tions, based on sketchy information

Solve technical problems, based Solve techno-people problems,

on their own individual skills based on skills in integrating the
talents and behaviors of others

Work largely through their own Work primarily through others to

abilities to get things done get things done

ment require a very different set of skills challenges, detailed planning, helping others,
than those normally associated with engineer- taking risks, making decisions, working
ing. Engineering involves close contact with through others and using the organization.
the work itself. Managers are more removed In contrast to the engineer, the manager
from the work: they can only impact the achieves satisfaction from directing the
work through others, An engineer can take work of others (not things), exercising author-
personal satisfaction and gratification in ity (not technical knowledge) and con-
his own physical creations, and from the ceptualizing new ways to do things (not
work itself. Managers must learn to be doing them). There are three skills that
gratified through the achievements of others. engineers generally find most troublesome
Engineering is more science than art. It is to acquire. They are: learning to trust others,
characterized by precision, reproducibility, learning how to work through others, and
proven theories and experimentally verifi- learning how to take satisfaction in the work
able results. Management is more art than of others (Souder, 1980; Badawy, 1982;
science. It is characterized by intuition, Souder, 1983).
studied judgments, unique events and one- The step from engineering to management
time occurrences. Engineering is a world of is sometimes a big one. To become success-
things; management is a world of people ful managers, engineers usually must learn
and things. People have feelings, sentiments new skills, acquire new values and broaden
and motives that may cause them to behave their perspectives. This takes time, on-the-job
in unpredictable or unanticipated ways. and off-the-job training, and careful planning.
Engineering is based on physical laws, so that In short, engineers can become good managers
most events occur in an orderly, predictable only through effective career planning and
fashion (Souder, 1980; Badawy, 1982; preparation.
Souder, 1983).

The transition from engineer to manager A TYPICAL PATHWAY

When the engineer enters management, The young engineer who aspires to a
new perspectives must usually be acquired management career often lacks the informa-
and new motivations must often be found. tion to develop an effective career plan.
The engineer must learn to enjoy leadership What skills should he or she strive to acquire?
 253

What assignments will increase his or her the supervision of some hourly employees
managerial skills? What new behavior patterns and some technicians. Ed noted that he was
should be established? Should new friends, never asked to supervise anyone whose job
acquaintances and colleagues be sought out? he did not understand. In fact, at one time
Are some assignments better stepping stones or another during his first few months with
than others to management jobs? the company, Ed had performed most of the
These questions are typical of the many tasks he was supervising. In spite of his
uncertainties that may confront the young desire for more challenging supervisory roles,
engineer. The answers can vary, depending Ed found that there was something new to
on the nature of the organization and its be learned from each of these assignments.
culture. However, we can find some answers At the end of each day Ed carefully reflected
in the hypothetical case of Ed the Engineer. on that day’s activities. He thought about
how the subordinates reacted to him, and
Ed the Engineer why they behaved in various ways, and he
pondered over his effectiveness as a super-
Soon after Ed began his engineering job visor. Ed recognized that these assignments
with the XYZ Company it became clear to could mean that he would eventually be given
him that his undergraduate engineering larger supervisory responsibilities, and that
training had prepared him well. Ed had this might be the beginning of a management
taken all the engineering courses he could, career. Therefore, Ed requested a bi-weekly
studied hard and learned well. With the meeting with his supervisor to discuss the
accomplishment of each new technical many things he observed, his leadership
assignment, his confidence and experience style, and general management philosophies.
grew. He soon found that his supervisor was Ed’s assignments were not always to his
delegating more and more authority to him, liking. He felt that some of his assignments
providing him with increasing decision- did not effectively use his talents, while
making responsibilities on many important others involved considerable “politics” and
technical aspects. Ed generally found that he protocol. An example was the feeder-schedul-
could handle these challenges. However, ing report. This report involved a great
one problem did arise where his lack of ex- deal of tedious time study and hand calcula-
perience failed him. He quickly recognized tions. It was not clear to Ed how the report
his inadequacy, sought the advice of several was used, or why his supervisor wanted it.
more experienced colleagues, and then con- But when Ed questioned its value he was
ferred with his supervisor on the alternatives abruptly told by his supervisor that “this is
that he had been able to develop. Collective- the way we do it here, and it’s part of your
ly, Ed and his supervisor arrived at a solu- job”. Recognizing that he couldn’t change
tion. There was another instance where Ed the long-standing institution of the feeder-
found that he simply did not have the tech- scheduling report, Ed instead sought to ease
nical know-how to solve the problem, even his part of it by computerizing the calcula-
though his engineering training had been tions. This freed some of his time for more
very thorough. A wrong decision could sig- creative activities.
nificantly affect the company’s future. Ed Ed hired into the XYZ Company at about
promptly referred the matter to his super- the same time as Mike and Joe, two young
visor, who decided to assign the problem to engineers with backgrounds and credentials
the XYZ Company’s “think tank” of senior comparable to Ed%. Ed viewed Mike as a
scientists for further research. “wheelerdealer” who sometimes took credit
From time to time Ed found that his for other’s ideas, maintained high visibility
supervisor gave him the responsibility to with management and frequently manipulated
plan and direct small-scale taskforces and others. There was one incident that genuinely
projects. These assignments usually included disgusted Ed: Mike received a promotion by
taking credit for Joe’s idea. Joe left the com- company-sponsored seminars, selected 3day
pany over this incident. Ed considered expos- training programs, and a personal reading
ing Mike. But it occurred to him that Mike program. Ed soon discovered that “manage-
had presented the idea in a way that was ment” was a vast field, and he enrolled in a
highly acceptable to management, while Joe part-time masters-degree program at the
had failed to effectively communicate his local university in order to focus his study.
idea on two previous occasions. Ed pondered Ed’s supervisory responsibilities began
at length over this incident. His feelings were gradually to increase. He found himself
a mixture of fear, awe and disgust. Ed recog- supervising increasingly larger sub-projects.
nized that Joe failed because of his lack of Sometimes these responsibilities included
self-promotional skills. However, Ed felt large budgets and involved many different
it was a great loss to the XYZ Company that persons in several different departments. In
Joe’s creative abilities and Mike’s communica- two cases, the outcome of the work was
tion skills could not somehow be teamed up. critical for the future of the company. These
Under the circumstances, Ed felt it would experiences brought Ed into decision-making
be unprofessional of him to attempt to ex- contact with many different persons through-
pose Mike. But he vowed never to be taken out the XYZ Company, affording him op-
advantage of in this fashion. This incident portunities to see how the different parts
also caused Ed to review his own personal of the company actually functioned. Ed soon
dress code and to reflect on his own com- found that his university courses and these
munication and self-promotional skills. He job experiences reinforced each other. He
decided that wearing a suit and tie occasional- began to feel a strong conviction that he
ly, especially for meetings with top manage- should devote himself to a career in manage-
ment, couldn’t hurt his image. ment, rather than to a career in the technical
As he became more familiar with the or- aspects of engineering. The XYZ Company
ganization, Ed began to reflect on the various had a “dual ladder” or a dual promotional
jobs and positions that he became acquainted system (Kimblin and Souder, 1975; Moore
with. He thought about the skills required for and Davies, 1977). Equivalent pay and status
each job, and appraised his own abilities could be achieved in either the technical or
with respect to those requirements. Ed kept managerial tracks. But Ed was beginning to
a running list of the jobs he might move to feel that he “belonged” in the management
next. track.
Ed sometimes disagreed with the decisions One Monday morning at 9.00 am, Ed was
and actions of his colleagues and his superiors. very surprised to be called into a meeting
But he felt it was unprofessional to criticize with his boss and with the Vice President of
them, unless they asked for his advice. This Engineering. There, he was asked to become
lesson was brought home to Ed very pointed- the Program Manager of a major development
ly one day, when a young engineer publicly effort, Program Y. Ed enthusiastically ac-
criticized a supervisor in a staff meeting. The cepted.
engineer was, in fact, correct. The supervisor
had erred in judgment. But the sense of un- The major lessons
professionalism and the pallor cast on the
meeting by this event was extremely em- For the young engineer who wants to
barrassing to everyone, including Ed. become a manager, there are seven major
Ed soon recognized that, though the XYZ lessons to be learned from the story of Ed
Company’s approach to management ap- the Engineer.
peared to be effective, he needed to gain (1) The first hurdle is to demonstrate
a broader perspective in order more fully to engineering proficiencies. A poor engineer
develop himself. He worked out a program can become a good manager. But most poor
of study that included attendance at several engineers will never be given the chance to
 255

prove they can manage. They will not be control and disciplined patience are a hall-
viewed as “management stock”. mark of a successful manager.
(2) Cultivate as many working relation-
ships as possible with more experienced Other important lessons
colleagues. Call on them freely, but don’t
use them frivolously. The mark of a wise Like most young engineers, Ed did not
person is knowing when his or her knowledge know enough about management during
has been exceeded and other viewpoints his early years to make an intelligent career
are needed. The mark of a successful manager choice. He wisely kept his options open while
is knowing how to get things done by draw- he learned as much as he could about all
ing on the teamwork of others. aspects of management. It is noteworthy that
(3) Work closely with your supervisor. Ed did not fall into the “management-status
Keep him or her well informed, exchange trap “. In this trap, the young engineer feels
viewpoints frequently and develop an open compelled to commit himself prematurely
dialogue. Let your supervisor know if you to a management career to fulfill his status-
are not yet ready for the larger, more chal- needs. This may, in part, have been influenced
lenging assignment that has been given to you. by the fact that the XYZ Company had a dual
You may fear that admitting you can’t do it advancement ladder (Kimblin and Souder,
will cause your supervisor to lose faith in you. 1975; Moore and Davies, 1977).
But consider the loss in faith if you take the Ed realized that there are some “politics”
job, knowing it’s beyond your current and undesirable aspects to every job. Instead
capabilities, and then fail at it. Have you con- of complaining, Ed tried to learn something
sidered the impacts of such a failure on the from each situation. He changed what he
rest of the organization, and on the careers could and developed a tolerance for things
of others? he could not change. He strived always to
(4) Be patient. Ask for supervisory re- present an image of professional competency.
sponsibilities when you feel you are ready He kept his eyes on his competition: others
for them. But do not be impatient if the op- who were equally capable of advancing to
portunities don’t appear as often as you the next job he sought. He maintained a
would like, or if your supervisor feels you healthy respect and even fear for his com-
are not ready yet. There is something to be petitors, but he never “played unfairly”
learned from every assignment. with them.
(5) Develop introspective skills. Learn to Even though Ed’s knowledge of his capabil-
empathize. Develop observational powers. ities and his career opportunities were meager,
Subtle nuances and behaviors that seem he was always forward-thinking. He constant-
meaningless may add up to important keys ly speculated and planned as best he could
to people’s behaviors. on the assignments that might become avail-
(6) Expose yourself to as much manage- able and the challenges he sought. All plan-
ment theory as you can. Read widely and try ning is iterative. Ed realized that no one ever
to integrate what you read. has enough information to write a com-
(7) A management degree does not qualify prehensive, accurate plan on the first try.
you to manage anything. A Ph.D. degree may The first version of the plan may only iden-
qualify you for a higher-level job than a tify the missing information. As this missing
BSc. degree, but a person with no degrees information is sought out and filled in, a
at all may be a vastly superior manager to sound, well-informed plan will eventually
another person with a Ph.D. degree in emerge.
management. The practice of management is There was no professional career counselor
a learned art. available to Ed, but he was able to gain con-
These “lessons” will not be highly palatable siderable advice and help from his boss and
to the impatient young engineer; but, self- others around him. Every year, hundreds of
256

new books and articles appear on manage- engaged in his own career-planning process.
ment. Ed availed himself of these as best he He periodically assessed his personal strengths
could. and weaknesses, examined his goals, con-
Ed recognized that his physical appear- sidered the available jobs and discussed these
ance had little bearing on his effectiveness, aspects with his supervisor. Two of Ed’s
but that it could have a great deal to do with career plans are presented in Table 3. Note
how others viewed him. Conformity with the that Ed’s early career plan (the left side of
suit-and-tie look is sometimes one of the Table 3) shows a number of uncertainties
irritating nuisances that one must tolerate about goals, future jobs and training needs.
in order to advance. Ed’s early career plan was limited by his
Ed refrained from undue criticism of his relative inexperience within the XYZ Com-
colleagues and the work of others. He at- pany, and by his rather limited viewpoints
tempted to present his bosses with solution of the management profession. By contrast,
alternatives along with every problem, main- the later revision shown in Table 3 (right side)
tained a willingness to learn, and listened is much more complete. Ed’s increasing
a great deal. Ed learned a cardinal rule from awareness of his job alternatives, and Ed’s
one incident: never publicly embarrass your growing management skills are reflected in
supervisor or otherwise tarnish your super- this revision. It is especially interesting to
visor’s image of his own competency. note how Ed’s perceptions and value oreinta-
tions changed from the early plan to the
later revision. The goal statements in the
AN ANALYSIS revision reflect a much more mature, sys-
tematic perspective.
Although the XYZ Company did not Figure 2 describes Ed’s career path from
provide any formal career planning, Ed his first job as a staff engineer with the XYZ

TABLE 3

Two of Ed’s career plans

An early plan A later revision

Self-assessment
Strengths: Organizing, following up, Organizing, following up,
planning, coordinating planning, directing, leading
Weaknesses: Working with people, motivating Working with people, motivat-
others, leading, directing ing; lack good overall picture
of the whole company

Objectives
Now: Management To manage the company’s
resources
Ultimate : ? To make a significant impact
on the technobusiness thrust
of the company

Potential next step Section Head, Project Coordinator, Program Manager

Senior Engineer

Potential future jobs ? Director, General Manager

Training needs ? Top management skills, inter-

personal skills, decision-
making methods
 257

coordinator or planner jobs. Both of these

pathways would move him up the adminis-
trative ladder. This seemed to be confirmed
Program Manager. Program Y
when Ed was promoted to Section Adminis-
Section Admlnlstrator trator.
Manager, Project X Ed’s meandering career path and his un-
certainties about his future with the XYZ
Company are typical experiences in most
/ Sub-Prop3
Manager. A companies. In spite of these problems, Ed
Ta& Drector
succeeded in becoming a candidate for a
top management job. Ed was lucky. He
succeeded in spite of the lack of a systematic
career planning system at the XYZ Company.
In many cases, good potential managers
I become lost in meandering pathways, become
Hlgn Degree of H ,gh Degree of
Techn,col Expert,se Adm,nlstrat,ve discouraged and leave the company, or
Required Expertise
Requred incorrectly pursue one of their “false orienta-
tions” when there is no career planning. The
Fig. 2. Trackings of a portion of Ed’s career path.
consequent misdirection and loss of human
talents to the organization and the unfulfill-
Company to his promotion to Program ment of the individuals concerned are inex-
Manager. The path appears to meander cusable costs. The cost of setting up and
somewhat, it crosses both technical and administering an in-company career-path
administrative jobs, and it loops between system is miniscule when compared to these
two of the jobs. This is typical of career costs.
pathways from engineering to management.
In Ed’s case, the journey from staff engineer
took him through increasingly challenging CONCLUSIONS
positions that provided a spectrum of techno-
administrative experiences. In the beginning, In order to become successful managers,
Ed’s pathway looped between the staff engineers must learn new skills, acquire new
engineer, taskforce leader and task director values and re-orient their thinking. Many
positions. As his skills grew and his expertise good engineers have become successful
increased, Ed moved on into sub-project, managers, and there are established career
project and major program management pathways from engineering to management.
responsibilities. The sub-project B and section However, the transition from engineering to
administrator jobs rounded out Ed’s skills management requires time for the individual
in administration, preparing him for the to mature, a progression of on-the-job ex-
program manager role. periences and careful career planning.
There were several times when Ed became Career planning is best viewed as part of
confused about his future with the XYZ a total human resource management system:
Company. During those times when he was a system consisting of regular goal-setting
serving as a highly technical ad hoc task exercises, regular performance appraisals,
director, Ed thought that the XYZ Company adequate training and continuous career
management might be preparing him for a counseling. Career planning becomes most
technical career, i.e., promotion to senior effective where a variety of jobs and pathways
engineer and on to senior scientist. When he are provided by the organization, the per-
was serving as a staff engineer and as a task- formance requirements for these jobs are
force leader, it seemed to him that the next made explicit, the criteria for promotions
logical progression would take him to the are spelled out, and the salary brackets are
258

assists the engineer in making a better transi-

The Human Resource Management Sysfem
tion to management. In the above case of
Ed the Engineer, the systems approach
could have substantially reduced his uncer-
tainties, moved him more swiftly along
the pathways and eliminated many of his
“false orientations”.

=I
HIghI%
MoNated REFERENCES
and
Productive
PWSOnnel
Badawy, M.K., 1982. Developing Managerial Skills
in Engineers and Scientists. Van Nostrand-
Reinhold, New York.
Burack, E.H., 1977. Career paths -why all the con-
fusion? Human Resource Management, pp. 21-27.
Glueck, W.F., 1982. Personnel: A Diagnostic Ap-
- = ,nter&monshlps proach. Business Publications, Plano, Texas, pp.
271-277.
Fig. 3. The systems approach to career planning.
Kimblin, C.W. and Souder, W.E., 1975. Maintaining
staff productivity as half-life decreases. Research
Management, 17(6): 29-35.
Moore, D.C. and Davies, D.S., 1977. The dual ladder:
kept consistent with this information. The
establishing and operating it. Research Manage-
interrelationships between career planning ment, 20(4): 14-19.
and these other aspects are depicted in Fig. 3. Souder, E., 1980. The career planning, development
However, as we have seen here in the and counseling process : a systems approach.
hypothetical case of Ed the Engineer, useful Working draft for presentation, October 15.
Souder, W.E., 1980. Management Decision Methods
career planning can be carried out without
for Managers of Engineering and Research, Van
the systems approach depicted in Fig. 3. Nostrand-Reinhold, New York, pp. 9-11.
But the systems approach makes career plan- Souder, W.E., 1983. Project Selection and Economic
ning much more effective, and generally Appraisal, Van Nostrand-Reinhold, New York.