MANAGING CAREERS

Prof. Musarrat Shaheen

1 Human Resource Management

 Definition and Career Concepts
• Career path is the sequential pattern of jobs that form a
Definition: career.
“Career is defined as • Career goals are the future positions that an individual strives
a sequence of to reach as part of a career
positions, roles or • Career planning refers to the process by which an individual
selects career goals and the path to these goals
jobs held by one – Individual career planning is the process whereby each
person over a employee personally plans career goals
relatively long time – Organizational career planning is the process whereby
organization plans career goals for its employees
span” • Career management is defined as the process of designing
and implementing goals, plans and strategies that enable HR
professionals and managers to satisfy workforce needs and
allow individuals to achieve their career objectives
• Career Development Programs help in achievement of career
objectives
 Career Anchors
•Edgar Schein had proposed eight career themes and had shown that people
identify primarily with one or two.
•The anchors can enable people to recognize their preferences for certain areas
in their job which can help career planning.
•For example, a person with a primary theme of autonomy/independence will
seek to work under their own rules and be less likely to conform to
organizational norms.
•People are generally more fulfilled in their careers when they can satisfy their
career anchors and seek roles that are aligned with these anchors.

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 Anchor Definition
1) Technical/ Primarily excited by the content of the work itself; prefers
Functional advancement only in his/her technical or functional area of competence;
Competence generally disdains and fears general management as too political.

2) Managerial Primarily excited by the opportunity to analyze and solve problems

Competence under conditions of incomplete information and uncertainty; likes
harnessing people together to achieve common goals; stimulated (rather
than exhausted) by crisis situations.
3) Security, Primarily motivated by job security and long-term attachment to on
Stability, organization; willing to conform and to be fully socialized into an
Organizational organization's values and norms; tends to dislike travel and relocation.
identity
4)Entrepreneurial Primarily motivated by the need to build or create something that is
Creativity entirely their own project; easily bored and likes to move from project to
project; more interested in initiating new enterprises than in managing
established ones.

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 Anchor Definition
5)Autonomy/ Primarily motivated to seek work situations which are maximally free
Independence of organizational constraints; wants to set own schedule and pace of
work; is willing to trade off opportunities for promotion to have more
freedom.
6) Sense of Primarily motivated to improve the world in some fashion; wants to
Service/ align work activities with personal values about helping society; more
Dedication to a concerned with finding jobs which meet their values than their skills.
Cause
7)Pure Challenge Primarily motivated to overcome major obstacles, solve almost
unsolvable problems, or win out over extremely tough opponents;
define their careers in terms of daily combat or competition in which
winning is everything; very single minded and intolerant of those
without comparable success.
8) Lifestyle Primarily motivated to balance career with lifestyle; highly
Integration concerned with such issues as paternity/maternity leave, day care
options etc. Looks for organizations that have strong pro family values
and programs.

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1. Individual Assessment and
Need Analysis

2. Organizational Assessment
and Opportunity Analysis

3. Need Opportunity
Alignment

4. Career Counseling
 Individual Assessment and Need Analysis
• Career drift: The phenomenon of people entering their jobs, occupations
and careers with little attention to career planning and then feeling
disengaged.

• Workshops: A number of career planning elements like self-assessment,

communication of organizational opportunities and one to one counseling
can be combined to ensure that career goals are realistic.

• Assessment Centers: They evaluate employees on their competencies and

their ability to perform in future position.

• Need Analysis: Its purpose is to identify T & D exercises that will help
individual to meet his career plans as well as organizational objectives
 Organizational Assessment and Opportunity Analysis

• Employees’ goals and aspirations must be realistic, practical and

achievable in terms of organizational possibilities.

• An individual employee needs information about possible career directions,

possible paths of career advancement and specific vacancies, major
technological changes.

• Informal Career planning programs enable employees learn about career

options and opportunities from their supervisors or their colleagues.

• Career paths are logical progressions between jobs or from one job to a
target position
 Need Opportunity Alignment
• HRIS is a formalized system of tracking and recording career moves
across the organization.

• Information on available positions in organization would help

employees analyze his/her prospects and plan his career path in the
organization.

• Alignment will win employee acceptability and trust and optimize

the utilization of resources.
 Career Counseling
The supervisor, along with the HR department, has to counsel the
employee regarding the available opportunities, the employee aspirations
and competencies by seeking answers to questions like:

• What are my skills?

• What are my actual needs?
• What are my future prospects?
• What are opportunities available?
• What are my job requirements?
• What training will I require?
• What is in store in career for me?

It is the responsibility of the organization to either provide answers to these

questions or help employees find the answers
 Issues in Career Planning
• Dual Family Careers- Organizations employing people whose spouses are
working, must deal with the implications of dual-career planning
• Low Ceiling Careers- Some careers do not have scope for much
advancement.
• Declining Opportunities- Career opportunities for certain jobs or categories
sometimes decrease due to technological and economic changes
• Restructuring- The concept of lean and mean organizations and flat
structures has forced employees to revamp their career plans.
• Career Plateaus- Employees reach a plateau in their career when they feel
that there is nothing else left to achieve. Lack of motivation, high levels of
stress, personal problems, lack of requisite knowledge and skill set, lack of
opportunities or a slow moving business can lead to a career plateau.
• Work-family issues- Elderly parents, school-going kids, a sick relative or
family member, are some of the many family issues that change the career
path of an employee.
The Benefits of Career Planning
to an Organization
• Ensures availability of
resources for future.
• Enhances organizational ability
to attract and retain talent.
• Ensures growth opportunities
for all.
• Handles employee frustration.
The Benefits of Career Planning
to an Individual
• Employees understand their own
strengths and weaknesses
• Employees have a better knowledge
of career opportunities
• Enables to choose the suitable career
• Helps to plan career in a long term
perspective
• Provides an opportunity to change
career plans
• Gives a sense of satisfaction,
achievement and motivation
 Career Development Cycle

• Exploration stage: Identifying individual’s likes and dislikes.

• Establishment stage: Identifying individual’s job, satisfaction and

settlement.

• Maintenance stage: Maintaining individual’s reputation and becoming

major contributor to organization.

• Disengagement stage: Equipping individual for a change, balance of work

and non-work activities.
 Career Objectives and Career Path
• Promotion: Advancement of an employee to a better job in terms of
greater responsibilities, prestige, status and increased rate or pay or salary.
Types are:
Merit based Promotion
Seniority based Promotion
Merit cum seniority based Promotion
Time bound Promotion
Vacancy based Promotion

• Transfer: Horizontal movement or reassignment of an employee from one

job to another at the same level of organizational hierarchy but in a
different place or unit most probably with similar pay, status, duties and
responsibilities. Types are:
Employee initiated Transfer
Company initiated Transfer
Public initiated Transfer
 Steps for Planned Self-Development

• Self Assessment
• Opportunity Analysis
• Decision-making
• Leverage network
• Venture
• Continuous Assessment
 Protean Career
The careers of 21st century will be protean.
A protean career is driven by the person, not by the organization, and that
will be reinvented by the person from time to time, as the person and the
environment change. (Hall & Moss, 1998, p.27)
Characteristics of protean career:
- Focuses on psychological success rather than vertical success;
- Lifelong series of identity changes and continuous learning;
- Job security replaced by the goal of employability.
- The new career contract is not a pact with the organization, rather it
is an agreement with one’s self and one’s work.

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 Succession Planning
Succession planning refers to the process through which a company
plans for and fills senior-level openings.
The typical succession planning process involves several steps:
1. Anticipate management needs based on strategic factors like
planned expansion.
2. Review your firms management skill inventory to assess current
talent.
3. Create replacement charts that summarize potential candidates
and each person’s development needs.
4. Replace the person on position becoming vacant.
 Successful Career-Management Practices
• Placing clear expectations on employees.
• Giving employees the opportunity for transfer.
• Providing a clear and thorough succession plan
• Encouraging performance through rewards and
recognition.
• Giving employees the time and resources they need to
consider short- and long-term career goals.
• Encouraging employees to continually assess their skills
and career direction.

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 Barriers for Career Advancement
• Lack of time, budgets, and resources for employees to
plan their careers and to undertake training and
development.

• Rigid job specifications, lack of leadership support for

career management, and a short-term focus.

• Lack of career opportunities and pathways within the

organization for employees.

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Thank You !