MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT

MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES.

At the end of the lesson, the trainee should be able to: –

  1. Explain the meaning and importance of management development.
  2. Discuss the basis of management development.
  3. Develop the organisation’s programmes for management development.
  4. Coordinate implementation of management development programmes
  5. Evaluate approaches to management development.

DEFINITION.

Management development is…
  1. Any attempt to improve current or future management performance by imparting knowledge, changing attitudes or increasing skills.
  2. A systematic process of development of effective managers at all levels to meet the requirements of an organisation, involving an analysis of present and future management requirements, assessing the existing and potential skills of managers and devising the best means for their development to meet these requirements.
  • Management development is concerned with developing the experience, attitudes and skills necessary to become or remain an effective manager.
  1. Management development is providing learning and development opportunities, which will increase the capacity of managers to make a significant contribution to achievement organisational goals.

Management development contributes to business success by helping the organisation to grow the managers it needs for present and future requirements, it improves the manager’s performance, gives them development opportunities and provides for management succession.  In particular it aims to: –

  1. Ensure that managers understand what is expected of them.
  2. Identify managers with potential and encouraging them to prepare and implement personal development plans.
  3. Provide for management succession, creating a system to keep this under review.

Management development includes: –

  1. Human resource planning to assess the demand for managers
  2. Appraisal of manager’s present abilities.
  • Appropriate development needs.

DEVELOPMENT NEEDS.

These can be divided into 3 categories;

  1. Knowledge required to perform a managers job in the company concerning:
  1. Background of company, its organisation and practices.
  2. Company resources available
  • Company technology
  1. Specialist management techniques e.g. operational research.
  2. Relevant law
  3. General, social and economic environment

 

  1. Planning, analytical and creative skills which include:
  1. Recognizing objectives and putting them in order of importance.
  2. Assessing the value of available resources e.g. human, material, technological and financial.
  • Formulating and administering plans, delegating as necessary.
  1. Discerning and solving day-to-day management problems.

 

  1. Social skills (interpersonal or interactive skills) important because managers may easily spend so much of their time working with and trying to influence others. They include:
  1. Communication upwards, downwards and laterally.
  2. Co-ordination within a department or between departments.
  • Motivation of subordinates.
  1. Awareness of others needs, attitudes and perceptions.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT.

Management development is not a separate activity to be handed over to a specialist and forgotten or ignored.  The success of management development depends upon the degree to which all levels of management are committed to it.  It is a prerogative of both the organisation and the individual to facilitate management development.  But the primary responsibility rests with the individual, his abilities, and his efforts.  But the individuals need encouragement, guidance and opportunities provided by their managers and the organisation.  The company must provide conditions favourable for faster growth.  These conditions are very mush part of the environment and organisational climate of the company and the management style of the chief executive.

Managers must also take the main responsibility for their own development through personal development plans.

THE ROLE OF THE HR SPECIALIST IN MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT.

Management development should be seen as part of business strategy.  All levels of management must therefore be committed to it.  Development of their staff must be recognised as a natural and essential part of the manager’s job, and a key criteria under which their performance will be judged.  However, HR specialists still must play the following roles:

  • Interpret the needs of the business and advice on how the management development strategies can play their part in meeting these needs.
  • Make proposals on formal and informal approaches to management development.
  • Develop in conjunction with line management a competency framework, which can be used as the basis for management development.
  • Provide guidance to managers on how to carry out their developmental activities.
  • Provide help and encouragement to managers in preparing and pursuing their personal development plans.
  • Provide the learning materials managers need to achieve their learning objectives.
  • Act as mentors or tutors to individual managers or groups of managers as required.
  • Advice on the use and choice of external management education programmes.
  • Facilitate action-learning projects.
  • Plan and conduct development centres.
  • Plan and conduct formal learning events with the help of external providers as required.

APPROACHES TO MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT.

There are two approaches to management development; formal approaches and the informal approaches.

  1. Formal approaches to management development.

The formal approaches to management development include;

  1. Development on the job through coaching, counselling, monitoring and feedback by managers on a continuous basis.
  2. Development through work experience – job rotation, job enlargement, taking part in project teams or task groups, action learning and secondment outside the organisation.
  • Formal training by means of internal or external courses.
  1. Structured self-development by following self managed learning programmes agreed as a personal development plan.
    1. Informal approaches to management development

These make use of the learning experiences that managers meet during the course of their every day work.  Managers learn every time they are confronted with an unusual problem, an unfamiliar task or a move to a different job.  This is the most powerful form of learning.  This is experiential learning and is an effective tool for managers.  They absorb unconsciously and by some process of osmosis the lessons from their experience.

Ordinary people find it difficult, however, to do this sort of learning.  This is where semi-informal approaches can be used, to encourage and help managers to learn more effectively.  These approaches include;

  1. Emphasizing self-assessment and the identification of development needs by getting managers to assess their own performance against agreed objectives.
  2. Getting managers to produce their own personal development plans or self –managed learning programmes.
  3. Encouraging managers to discuss their own problems and opportunities with their bosses, colleagues and mentors.

THE MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.

For management development to be successful, it must have the full support of the organisation’s top executives. Management development should be designed, conducted and evaluated on the basis of the objectives of the organisation, the needs of the individual managers to be developed and the anticipated changes in the organisation’s management team.  The process of management development is as seen below.

Determining the Net Requirements.

Organisational objectives are important in determining the organisations requirements for managers.  For instance, a rapid expansion programme would call for new managers at all levels.

Management Inventory and Succession Plan.

A management inventory (a skills inventory) provides certain types of information about an organisation’s current management team.  Information contained includes; present position, length of service, retirement date, education and past performance evaluations.

A management inventory can be used to develop a management succession plan, also called a replacement chart or schedule.  Such a schedule records potential successors for each manager within the organisation.  Such a plan lists the positions and potential replacements, length of service, retirement data, past performance evaluations and salary.

Changes in Management.

Certain changes in the management team can be estimated fairly accurate and easily while other changes are not so easily determined.  Retirement, transfers and promotion can be predicted as compared to deaths, resignations and discharges.

Needs Assessment

Four methods exist to determine management development needs; a training needs survey, competence studies, task analysis and performance analysis.

METHODS USED IN MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT.

Some of the more frequently used methods of management development include;

  • Understudy assignments.
  • Experience
  • Job rotation
  • Special projects and committee assignments
  • Classroom training
    • Lectures
    • Case studies
    • Role play
    • In-basket technique
    • Programmed and computer assisted instruction.
    • Business games.
  • University and professional association seminars
  • Junior boards
  • Action learning
  • Training companies
  • Outdoor management training.

 REAL-LIFE MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT METHODS.

These include the following;

  • PROJECTS- These are special assignments given to managers who must enquire into a company problem, make recommendations and sometimes put them into practice.
  • JUNIOR BOARDS- in which a group of young managers is given decisions of fairly low importance to make which have been delegated to the group by the main board.
  • ACTION LEARNING- in which a manager takes over a different job and through doing it learns a new set of management skills. The manager must analyse the problems associated with a job, formulate a solution, implement the solution (under the guidance of an experienced superior) and monitor its consequences.
  • TRAINING COMPANIES- usually small subsidiaries of a large group, which are intended to trade profitably, yet give opportunities for younger managers to develop their skills in a somewhat protected environment.
  • COACHING- is often used and is frequently successful, but sometimes the experienced manager who is coaching may make decisions so automatically that either he/she does not realize they have been made or cannot explain the reasons for them. In coaching experienced managers advise and guide trainees in solving managerial problems.  Coaching should allow the trainees to develop their own approaches to management with the counsel of a more experienced manager.

One advantage of coaching is that trainees get practical experience and see the results of their decisions.  However, a danger is posed in that the coach may neglect training responsibilities or pass on inappropriate management practices.  The coach’s expertise and experience are critical for coaching.

  • OUTDOOR MANAGEMENT TRAINING- this assumes that the qualities needed for successful management may be cultivated through short management development courses e.g. Rock climbing, canoeing, orienteering, outward bound training. Such activities are said to enhance participant’s abilities to plan, organise, create and manage teams, control others and control certainty.
  • UNDERSTUDY ASSIGNMENTS- these are used to develop an individual’s capabilities to fill a specific job. An individual who will eventually be given a particular job works for the incumbent.  The advantage of such a system is that the heir realizes the purpose of the training and can learn in a practical and realistic situation without being directly responsible for operating results.  On the disadvantage, the understudy learns bad as well as the good practices of the incumbent. Understudy assignments maintained over a long period do become expensive.

OTHER MANAGEMENT TRAINING METHODS

  • IN-TRAY/IN-BASKET TECHNIQUE – the trainee is asked to deal with a batch of miscellaneous documents, which he/she is supposed to find in each day’s in-tray. Decisions of various kinds have to be made though not of course actually put into effect.  After this, a review takes place where the trainer discusses with the trainee the decisions taken.  It is used in management training and as means of selecting managers, though the exercise is difficult to score objectively.
  • BUSINESS GAMES – in which tow or more teams attempt, for example, to market an imaginary product using the information supplied to them. Effects of their decisions are evaluated and feedback given to the teams.
  • EXPERIENCE – many organisations use development through experience. Here individuals are promoted into management jobs and allowed to learn on their own from their daily experiences.  The individual, in an attempt to perform a specific job, may recognise the need for management development and look for a means of satisfying it.  However, such employees may commit serious mistakes.
  • SPECIAL PROJECTS AND COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS – special projects require the trainee to learn about a particular subject. Committee assignments can be used if the organisation has regularly constituted or ad hoc committees.  Here the individual works with the committee on its regularly assigned duties and responsibilities.
  • PROGRAMMED AND COMPUTER-ASSISTED INSTRUCTION – requires the trainee to read material on a particular subject and answer questions about the material. Correct answers allow the trainee to move on to more advanced or new material.  If the answers are incorrect, the trainee is required to reread the material and answer additional questions.  The material in programmed instruction is presented either in text form or on computer video displays.
  • ASSESSMENT CENTRE – is a method in which various personality traits of trainees are evaluated by trained observers based on the trainee’s performance in specially chosen exercises. Assessment centres are used for making decisions on promoting, evaluating and training managerial personnel.
  • UNIVERSITY AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION SEMINARS – This is offered on both credit and non-credit courses intended to help meet the management needs of various organisations. These offerings range from courses in principles of supervision to advanced executive management programmes.

EVALUATION OF MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES.

Four alternatives exist for evaluation of management development activities:

  • ALTERNATIVE I: are the trainees happy with the course?
  • ALTERNATIVE II: Does the training course teach the concepts?
  • ALTERNATIVE III: Are the concepts used on the job?
  • ALTERNATIVE IV: Does the application of the concepts

Positively affect the organisation?

COMPETENCY-BASED MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT

This may concentrate on a limited number of core competencies which the organisation has decided will be an essential part of the equipment of their managers if they are going to take the organisation forward in line with its strategic plans.

 

Examples.

  1. Strategic capability – to understand the changing business environment, competitive challenges and the strengths and weaknesses of their organisation.
  2. Change management capability – to identify change needs, plan change programmes and persuade others to participate willingly in implementation of change.
  3. Team management capability – to get diverse groups of people from different disciplines to work well together.
  4. Relationship management capability – to network effectively with others, to share information and pool resources to achieve common objectives.
  5. International management capability – to be capable of managing across international frontiers working well with people of other nationalities.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT.

 

  • Academic management training has few practical applications, for encouraging technical specialization rather than the overall ability to lead.
  • Creates unrealistic job and career expectations among junior managerial employees.
  • The environments of training are artificial and too remote from real life managerial situations to be of practical value. Most aspects of management can only be learned by doing.
  • The dimensions of managerial competence encompass a vast range of tasks, so that it is not possible to devise courses that comprehensively cover the entire management field.
  • Individuals enter management in so many different ways and from such varied backgrounds that no single programme of study can meet the highly specified needs of each participant.
  • Management is a fast changing subject, so that the contents of any management-training course could quickly become out of date.

CAREER MANAGEMENT.

Specific objectives.

At the end of this topic the trainee should be able to: –

 

  1. State the meaning and importance of career management.
  2. Explain the objectives of career management.
  3. Discuss the issues of career management.
  4. Explain the process of career management.
  5. Carry out career counselling and mentoring
  6. Implement the organisation’s career management programme.

INTRODUCTION.

Not long ago, individuals joined an organisation and often stayed with it for their entire working career.  But this is no more.  Nowadays, the average 20-year-old employee is expected to change jobs approximately six or seven times during his lifetime.  Increased employee mobility and related environmental factors have made career development increasingly important for today’s organisation.

DEFINITION.

Career development is an ongoing, formalized effort by an organisation that focuses on developing and enriching the organisation’s human resources in light of both the employee’s and the organisation’s needs.

Career management consists of the processes of career planning and management succession.  Career planning shapes the progression of individuals within an organisation in accordance with assessments of organisational needs and the performance, potential and preferences of individual members of the enterprise.

  Objectives of Career management.

Career management has three overall aims:

  1. To ensure that the organisation’s needs for management succession are satisfied.
  2. To provide employees of potential with a sequence of training and experience that will equip them for whatever level of responsibility that they have the ability to reach.
  3. To give individuals with potential the guidance and encouragement they need if they are to fulfil their potential and achieve a successful career.

Career management is the process through which organisation’s select, assess, assign and develop employees to provide a pool of qualified people to meet future needs.

Career development encompasses career management and career planning.  Career planning is the process through which individual employees identify and implement steps to attain career goals.  Career planning is a process by which an individual formulates career goals and develops a plan for reaching those goals.

From the organisation’s viewpoint, career development has three major objectives: –

  1. To meet the immediate and future human resource needs of the organisation on a timely basis.
  2. To better inform the organisation and the individual about potential career paths within the organization.
  3. To utilize existing human resource programmes to the fullest by integrating the activities that select, assign, develop, and manage individual careers with the organisation’s plans.

Career development looks at individual careers from the viewpoint of the organisation, whereas, career planning looks at careers from the eyes of individual employees.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT?

Successful career development requires action from 3 sources; the organisation, the employee and the employee’s immediate manager.

ORGANISATION’S RESPONSIBILITIES.

The organisation is the entity that has primary responsibility for ensuring that career development takes place.  The organisation has the responsibility to develop and communicate career options within the organisation to the employee.  The organisation should advise an employee on possible career paths to achieve the employee’s career goals.

The organisation should promote the conditions and create the environment that will facilitate the development of individual career plans by the employees.

EMPLOYEE’S RESPONSIBILITIES.

The primary responsibility for preparing individual career plans rests with the individual employees.  Career planning has to come from the individual who knows what he really wants out of a career.  The individual must find time to develop a sound career plan.  The organisation may help by providing trained specialists to encourage and guide the employee.

MANAGER’S RESPONSIBILITIES.

The manager should facilitate the development of a subordinate’s career.  The manager should serve as a catalyst and sounding board.  He should show an employee how to go about the process and then help the employee evaluate the conclusions.

INTEGRATION BETWEEN CAREER PLANNING AND CAREER MANAGEMENT.

CAREER PLANNING ACTIVITIES.

  1. EMPLOYEE’S RESPONSIBILITY
    • Self assess abilities, interests and needs.
    • Analyse career options.
    • Decide on development objectives and needs
    • Preferences to manager
    • Map out mutually agreeable action plans with manager
    • Pursue agreed-on action plan.

 

  1. MANAGER’S RESPONSIBILITY
    • Act as a catalyst; sensitize employee to the development planning process.
    • Assess employee’s expressed objectives and perceived development needs. Find out how realistic they are.
    • Counsel employee and develop mutually agreeable plans.
    • Follow-up and update employee’s plans as appropriate.
  1. ORGANISATION’S RESPONSIBILITY
    • Provide career planning model, resources, counselling and information needed for individualized career planning.
    • Provide training in career development planning to managers and employees and career counselling to managers.
    • Provide skills training programmes and on-the-job development experience opportunities.

CAREER MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES.

  1. EMPLOYEE’S RESPONSIBILITY
    • Provide accurate information to management as needed regarding skills, work experiences, interest and career aspirations.
  1. MANAGER’S RESPONSIBILITY
    • Validate information provided by employees.
    • Provide information about vacant job positions for which the manager is responsible.
  1. ORGANISATION’S RESPONSIBILITY
    • Provide information system and process to accommodate manager’s decision-making needs.
    • Organise and update all information.
    • Ensure effective usage of all information.

Advantages to organisation’s of having employees who are pursuing careers (rather than holding ad hoc jobs).

  1. Individuals might be motivated to work hard in order to further their careers.
  2. Worker’s loyalties to their occupations and/or employing organisations might be enhanced.
  • Employees have definite career targets at which to aim.
  1. Employee’s competence will increase systematically over time.
  2. Management succession schemes can be drafted more easily.
  3. Career planning can be directly related to the firm’s performance appraisal and management by objectives.

 

Advantages to individuals of following a career

  1. Feeling of security resulting from the likelihood his job opportunities will increase as the person’s career progresses.
  2. Enhanced self-awareness resulting from being forced to analyse personal SWOT and the career options available.
  • Acquisition of useful experience as the employee selects jobs in organisations, departments, divisions that will best promote his career.
  1. Having a tangible long-term objective.

IMPLEMENTING CAREER DEVELOPMENT.

Successful implementation of a career development programme involves 4 basic steps at individual level:

  1. An assessment by the individual of his abilities interests and career goals.
  2. An assessment by the organisation of the individual’s abilities and potentials.
  3. Communication of career options and opportunities within the organisation.
  4. Career counselling to set realistic goals and plans for their accomplishment.

INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT.

This assessment should be based on reality.  For the individual, this involves identifying personal strengths, not only the individual’s developed abilities but also the financial resources available.

ASSESSMENT BY THE ORGANISATION.

This is mostly done through the performance appraisal process.  The assessment center can also give very useful information.  Other potential sources include; personnel records reflecting such information as education and previous work experience.

The HR manager and the individual’s immediate manager, who serves as a mentor, should do assessment of an individual.

COMMUNICATING CAREER OPTIONS.

To set realistic career goals, an individual must know the options and opportunities that are available.  The organisation can do several things to facilitate such awareness.  Posting and advertising job vacancies, clearly identifying possible paths of advancement within the organisation (can be done through the performance appraisal process) are helpful methods.  Another good method is to share human resource planning forecasts with employees.

CAREER COUNSELLING.

This is an activity that may be performed by an employee’s immediate manager, a HR specialist or a combination of the two.

CAREER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Where organisations have active Career Management practices in place, they can expect to experience a reduction in employee turnover; heightened employee motivation; improved employee satisfaction; and more effective succession planning.

Three key areas that need to be considered in implementing Career Management strategies:

  1. Implementation of supportive Career Management practices.

Organizations’ Career Management practices can be either active or passive. Active strategies (such as career workshops and employee training) are implemented for the express purpose of Career Management, and passive strategies incorporate a number of organizational practices (such as regular performance reviews and provision of key performance indicators) that, by default, promote employees’ Career Management.

The six most successful Career Management practices used within organizations included:

  • Placing clear expectations on employees so that they know what is expected of them throughout their careers with the organization
  • Giving employees the opportunity to transfer to other office locations, both domestically and internationally
  • Providing a clear and thorough succession plan to employees
  • 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
  1. Elimination of barriers to employees’ career advancement.
    In addition to looking at the implementation of effective Career Management strategies, organizations need to assess whether there are any internal barriers to employees’ career advancement. In fact, the removal of any barriers to career advancement can be as significant to reducing employee turnover as the implementation of Career Management strategies.

Generally, these barriers fall into ‘clusters’, including:

  • 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

Organizations must eliminate as many barriers to career advancement as possible to ensure that employees have the best possible chance to look for opportunities within their organization.

  1. Adapting Career Management strategies to suit the organization’s size and structure

It is important that an organization’s Career Management strategies reflect its dynamics, size and structure. For example, while large organizations tend to have more support mechanisms for employees, they often present a higher number of barriers to career advancement. Small organizations, on the other hand, rarely implement extensive Career Management strategies, usually as a result of lack of resources, however, they also tend to present the least number of barriers to career advancement.

As organizations consider their Career Management practices and strategies, these factors must be weighed-up in the decision to ensure that whatever the strategy is, it is suitable to the organization.

CAREER PATHING.

This is a technique that addresses the specifics of progressing from one job to another in the organisation.  It is a sequence of developmental activities involving informal and formal education, training and job experiences that help make an individual capable of holding more advanced jobs.

 

 

Basic Steps of Career Pathing.

  1. Determine or reconfirm the abilities and end behaviors of the target job.
  2. Secure employee background data and review from accuracy and completeness.
  3. Undertake a needs analysis comparison that jointly views the individual and the targeted job.
  4. Reconcile employee career desires, developmental needs and targeted job requirements with those of organizational career management.
  5. Develop individual training work and educational needs using a time-activity orientation.
  6. Blueprint career paths activities.

Reviewing Career Progress.

Individual careers rarely go exactly according to plan.  The environment changes, personal desires change and other things happen.  The individual must periodically review both the career plan and the situation, and make adjustments so that career development continues.

CAREER PLATEAU.

This is defined as the point in a career where the likelihood of additional hierarchical promotion is low.  It occurs when an employee reaches a position from which he is not likely to be promoted further.  Plateaued employees are those who reach their promotional ceiling long before they retire.  The four principal career categories of employees are:

  • Learners. Individuals with high potential for advancement who are performing below standard e.g. new trainees.
  • Stars. Individuals presently doing some outstanding work and having a high potential for continued advancement; these are people on fast track career paths.
  • Solid citizens. Individuals whose present performance is satisfactory but whose chance for future advancement is small.  They make the bulk of employees in a firm.
  • Deadwood.  Individuals whose present performance has fallen to an unsatisfactory level – they have little potential for advancement.

The following action can aid in managing the plateauing process.

  1. Prevent plateauees from becoming ineffective (prevent a problem from occurring)
  2. Integrate relevant career-related information systems (Improve monitoring so that emerging problems are detected early)
  3. Manage ineffective plateauees and frustrated employees effectively.

REHABILITATING INEFFECTIVE PLATEAUEES.

  1. Provide alternative means of recognition – assignment to a task force, special assignments, participation in brainstorming sessions, representation of the organisation to others, training of new employees.
  2. Develop new ways to make their current jobs more satisfying – some possibilities here include relating employees performance to total organisational goals and creating competition in the job
  3. Effect revitalization through reassignment – implement systematic job switching to positions at the same level, that require many of, but not necessary, the exact same skills and experiences as the present job.
  4. Utilize reality-based self-development programmes – assign plateauees to development programmes that can help them perform better in their present jobs.
  5. Change managerial attitudes towards Plateaued employees – some managers usually give up and neglect plateaued employees and this only helps compound the problem.

THE CAREER STAGE MODEL

Most individuals pass through stages of careers in a logical progression. The establishment stage is the entry stage in which individuals learn the job and the discipline, and begin to fit into the organization. The advancement stage is typically the high achievement phase in which people focus on their competence. In the maintenance stage, individuals attempt to maintain productivity while evaluating progress toward career goals. The withdrawal stage involves the process of retirement or possible career change. These stages correlate with other maturity and life changes.

  1. THE ESTABLISHMENT STAGE

The establishment stage involves beginning a career as a newcomer to an organization. Newcomers depend on others for information on what is expected in the job and in the organization.

  1. Psychological Contracts

During the establishment stage, a psychological contract, or implicit agreement, between an individual and an organization is developed that specifies what each is expected to give and receive in the relationship.

 

  1. The Stress of Socialization

The most likely stressor during the anticipatory socialization stage is ambiguity about the job and the organization. During the encounter stage, the demands of the job and the shock of reality create the majority of stress. Stress often arises from the need to control job demands during the change and adjustment stage.

 

  1. Easing the Transition from Outsider to Insider

 

  1. Individual Actions

Seeking support from co-workers and networking with other newcomers can help reduce stress.

  1. Organizational Actions

Organizations should provide early opportunities for newcomer success, provide encouragement and feedback, and explicitly tie rewards to performance.

  1. THE ADVANCEMENT STAGE
  2. Career Paths and Career Ladders

The traditional analogy for the advancement stage is one of climbing the corporate ladder.  The career path is a sequence of job experiences that an employee moves along during his or her career. A career ladder is a structured series of job positions through which an individual progresses in an organization. With the restructuring of many large, well-known companies, the career ladder may no longer be as salient as it once was. This can be an additional socialization stressor for those expecting a fast track career.

Finding a Mentor

A mentor is an individual who provides guidance, coaching, counselling, and friendship to a protégé. Some organizations have mentor programs that pass employees upward as they reach certain stages of development. Other organizations form multicultural mentor groups, so that diversity will be firmly ingrained in their interactions. Most mentor relationships progress through a series of stages that include initiation, cultivation, separation, and redefinition.

Dual-Career Partnerships

Another new element in the work—life combination is the increase of dual-career partnerships. A dual-career partnership is a relationship in which both people have important career roles. Dual-career relationships have stresses of competition, organizational loyalty, and location selection to contend with throughout their organizational affiliations.

Work—Home Conflicts

Work—home conflicts increase when the adults in a relationship both work. The U.S. culture has mixed role expectations for women. Other countries, such as Japan, have a more pronounced set of expectations for working women. Organizations are increasingly considering providing benefits for the working couple to encourage them to remain with the organization.

One of the solutions for work—home conflicts may be a flexible work schedule. Flexible work schedules allow employees discretion in setting their working hours in order to accommodate personal concerns. Another consideration related to the work—home conflict is the increase in needs for eldercare. The sandwich generation is responsible for caring for both children and elderly parents. An increasing number of organizations are providing employees with eldercare to assist them in caring for elderly parents and/or other elderly relatives.

 

  • THE MAINTENANCE STAGE

The wide range of options that exists during this stage has helped individuals through potential midlife transitions and burnout. One of the options being considered in corporations is the concept of sabbaticals: a time for rejuvenation and revival.

  1. Sustaining Performance

Most individuals in the maintenance stage reach a career plateau, a point in one’s career at which the probability of moving further up the hierarchy is low. Keeping work stimulating and continued appreciation of contributions are keys to maintaining employees’ productivity during this stage.

  1. Becoming a Mentor

Mentoring gives individuals in this stage an opportunity to contribute to the development of newer and younger employees by sharing their wisdom, knowledge, and experience with those employees. Mentoring programs can be either formal or informal.

  1. THE WITHDRAWAL STAGE

During the withdrawal stage, workers begin to plan seriously for and initiate their transition to retirement. Actions may include scaling back on hours, switching to part-time work, or even changing careers. Workers in this stage still have much to contribute because of their extensive experience, strong work ethic, and loyalty.

  1. Planning for Change
  2. Retirement

Career Management Course Activities

Please Attempt All These Questions.  Where Reference Material Has Been Used Please Quote The Book Using The Standard Reference Writing Style.

  1. Careers: What is a career?  What is career management?  What is the process of career management?  Can you give examples of environmental influences on your career?
  2. What are some of the key issues with careers? How are these relevant for your career?  What is adaptability, and why is it important in today’s workforce and for career management?  What are the eight dimensions of adaptability?
  3. Compare and contras the various career management models. What are their similarities and differences?  Can you give examples of each stage in each model?   What are the common stages of career development?
  4. What are the employees’, managers, and company’s roles in career management? Who ultimately has responsibility for career management?
  5. What are the characteristics of a successful career management initiative?
  6. What is organizational socialization? Why is it important?  What are the steps of socialization, what are their similarities and differences, and can you give examples of each?
  7. What are the characteristics of good socialization programs, and why are they necessary?
  8. What are dual career concerns? Why are they so common and important today?  What are the characteristics of successful dual career couples?
  9. What is a career plateau? Compare and contrast the different types of career plateaus.  Give examples of each.
  10. Why are work family issues so critical in today’s world? What is meant by the statement that flexibility is the major issue surrounding work family issues?  What types of flexibility are important?  What types of conflict are present in work family issues—describe and give examples of each.  How could one reduce work family conflict?  What are the pros and cons of working at home?
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