14-1

14-2

14

Career Planning
and Development

McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Human Resource Management, 10/e © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
14-3
Introduction
Global competition and economic changes are
causing organizations of all sizes to restructure
Self-management is the reality for the coming years
Organizations must know how to best utilize the
talents of employees at all levels of the company
Even organizations facing a stable or contracting
future recognize that performance is tied to
development of human resources
14-4
Introduction
Asorganizations change, so do their employees
Careers follow a fairly uniform pattern of phases
Each phase produces different opportunities and
stresses that affect job performance
Effective managers help employees confront and
deal with career and life needs
Managers and employees should be involved with
their own career development
Employees often lack the ability and information
to develop their own career plans
14-5
Introduction
This chapter reviews programs that organizations
and employees can use to plan and develop careers
Career stages are influenced by attitudes, motivation,
the task, economic conditions, and so forth
Be sensitive to the “career cycle” and its influences

Matching individual needs, abilities, preferences,

motivation, and opportunities will not just happen
Everyone must take responsibility for the things they
can control
14-6
Introduction
InsertExhibit 14-1 here (Linking Org Needs with
Individual Needs)
14-7
The Concept of Career
The concept of career has many meanings
The most popular is “moving upward in one’s chosen
line of work”
It also means making more money, having more
responsibility and acquiring more status, prestige,
and power
Theconcept of career can apply to other life pursuits
Homemakers
Parents
Volunteer workers
14-8
The Concept of Career
Greenhaus offers this definition: A career is the
pattern of work-related experiences and activities over
the span of the person’s work life
The term “career” does not imply success or failure
except in the judgment of the individual
A career consists of both attitudes and behavior
It is an ongoing sequence of work-related activities

A person’s nonwork life and roles play a significant

part in a career
14-9
The Concept of Career
The values of society change over time
A growing number of people are less obsessed with
advancement, continual success, and a continually
increasing salary
Family needs and spending time off the job are
becoming important personal issues
14-10
Career Stages
Most people:
Undergo some form of organized education
Take a first job
Move to jobs in the same organization, or in other
organizations
Eventually settle into a position and hold it until
retirement
The duration of each stage varies among individuals,
but most working people go through all of them
14-11
Career Stages
Needs and expectations change over time, as
individuals move through the career stages:
Establishment phase
Advancement phase
Maintenance phase
14-12
Career Stages
Insert Exhibit 14-2 here (Career stages and important
needs)
14-13
Career Stages
The maintenance phase:
A period of creativity because many of the
psychological and financial needs associated with
earlier phases have been satisfied
Esteem and self-actualization are the most important
needs
During this phase, many people
experience a mid-career crisis
14-14
Career Stages
Retirement phase:
The individual has completed one career and may
be ready to start another
Self-actualization may be experienced through
activities impossible to pursue while working
Financial and health status may make it necessary
to worry about satisfying needs
Pre-retirement planning programs are becoming
more common
14-15
Career Stage I
Young professionals have technical knowledge, but
often do not understand the organization’s demands
They must work closely with experienced people
(apprenticeship)
Apprentices are expected to show competence,
including learning and following directions
Moving through Stage 1 requires accepting the
psychological state of dependence
Some cannot cope with a situation similar to school
14-16
Career Stage II
Stage II calls for working independently
Passage to this stage depends on having demonstrated
competence in some area
The primary activity is being an independent
contributor
The psychological state is one of independence
Those who fail at this stage typically do so because they
lack self-confidence
14-17
Career Stage III
Stage III professionals mentor those in Stage I
They broaden their interests and deal more with people
outside the organization
The central activities are training and interaction with
others
They assume responsibility for the work of others,
which can cause considerable psychological stress
Individuals who cannot cope with this new
requirement may shift back to Stage II
Individuals who enjoy seeing others move to bigger/
better jobs are content in Stage III until retirement
14-18
Mentoring

The experienced person is expected to contribute

to the junior employee’s:
Instruction
Job performance
Retention
14-19
Mentoring
In a successful relationship, the junior person’s
career is enhanced by the coaching, exposure, and
protection the senior person facilitates
The relationship helps the junior person acquire a
sense of personal identity
The mentor derives satisfaction from the growth,
development, and advancement of a protégé
14-20
Mentoring
It has been difficult for women and minorities to
establish mentoring relationships
Men hesitate to mentor female protégé because of the
sexual innuendoes attached to such relationships
Senior women are reluctant to
mentor junior women because
they perceive significant
organizational risks in doing so
14-21
Career Stage IV
Not all professionals experience Stage IV, which
involves shaping the direction of the organization itself
Stage IV professionals direct their attention to long-
range strategic planning
They play the roles of manager, entrepreneur, and
idea generator
Primary tasks are:
Identify and sponsor the careers of successors
Interact with key people outside the organization
14-22
Career Choice and Personality
John L. Holland, a career counseling expert,
suggests that:
The choice of a career is an expression of personality
and not a random event, although chance plays a role
What a person accomplishes and derives from a
career depends on the congruence between his or her
personality and the job environment
14-23
Career Choice and Personality
Personality types:
Realistic (machinist)
Investigative (research scientist)
Artistic (interior decorator)
Social (school counselor)
Enterprising (lawyer)
Conventional (accountant)

The more one resembles a given type, the more likely

one is to display the behavior/traits of that type
14-24
Career Choice and Personality
Insert Exhibit 14-4 here (Holland’s hexagon)
14-25
Career Choice and Personality
Holland suggests that many personalities fall within
the boundaries of two or more types
The closer the orientations, the more similar are the
personality types
If a person’s predominant and secondary orientations
are similar, he/she will have a relatively easy time
selecting a career
14-26
Career Choice and Personality

Various quantitative instruments can assess a

person’s personality type:
The Vocational Preference Inventory asks a person
to select appealing vocations from a list of 84
occupational titles
The higher a person’s score on a scale, the greater
the resemblance to the type that scale represents
14-27
Examining Your Skills
Simply preferring one career or occupation over
another is not enough
A person must have, or be able to develop, the skills
required to perform the job
The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT)
provides information on the skills required for more
than 20,000 jobs
14-28
Examining Your Skills
Another way to measure interests and skills is the
Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS)
A six-part response scale is used to assess 200 items
about interests and 120 items about skills
Scores are translated into seven orientations:
Influencing Organizing Helping
Creating Analyzing Producing
Adventuring
14-29
Examining Your Skills
The seven orientations are further subdivided into 29
areas, such as leadership, writing, and science
If a person scores high on interests and skills, he/she
should seriously consider the orientation or activity
High interest, low skill = develop skills
Low interest, high skill = exploration is needed
Low interest, low skill = avoid the orientation/activity
14-30
Career Development: A Commitment
Career development can range from simply
reimbursing tuition to detailed counseling
These programs are most valuable when they are:
Offered regularly
Open to all employees
Modified as evaluation indicates change is necessary
The goal is to match employees’ needs and goals with
current or future career opportunities in the
organization
14-31
Career Development: A Commitment
A well-designed career development effort will:
Help employees determine their own career needs
Develop and publicize career opportunities in the
organization
Match employees’ needs/goals with those of the
organization
Career planning is important during all phases of
a career, but three points are particularly crucial:
Recent hiree
Midcareer person
Pre-retirement person
14-32
Career Development For Recent Hirees
Employees select their positions on the basis of:
Expectations regarding the demands that the
organization will make of them
What will be received in exchange for meeting those
demands
Young managers, particularly college graduates,
expect recognition and advancement
Recently hired managers are often disappointed with
their initial career decisions
14-33
Causes of Early Career Difficulties

Early career disappointments vary from person to

person, but reality shock is often a factor
Reality shock is a mismatch between what they
thought the organization was and what it actually is
14-34
Causes of Reality Shock
Initial job challenge
First jobs often demand far less of managers than
they are capable of delivering
Employees may be unable to create challenge from
routine jobs
Initial job satisfaction
Recently hired college graduates often believe they
can perform at levels beyond their initial assignments
Disappointment and dissatisfaction result when
these self-evaluations are not shared by others
14-35
Reality Shock

Reality shock is caused by:

Initial job challenge
Initial job satisfaction
Initial job performance evaluation
14-36
Counteracting Early Career Problems
Most early career interventions focus on developing
managers, but other employees can benefit too
Blue-collar workers are valuable assets who also need
career development
Workers at any level accumulate skill, therefore must
have access to systematic career development
14-37
Realistic Job Previews (RJPs)
RJP is based on the idea that recruits should know
both the good and bad things about a job and an
organization
The recruitment rate is the same for those who
receive RJP as for those who do not
Those who receive RJPs are more likely to remain on
the job and be satisfied with it
14-38
Challenging Initial Assignments
The newly hired should be put into the most
demanding job available
This policy is risky because managers are
accountable for the performance of subordinates
Most managers bring subordinates
along slowly by giving them
progressively more difficult jobs
However, managers who experience
initial job challenge are more
effective in their later years
14-39
Enriched Initial Assignments
Job enrichment can motivate employees with strong
needs for growth and achievement
Give new managers more authority and responsibility
Permit new managers to interact directly with
customers and clients
Enable new managers to implement their own ideas
14-40
Demanding Bosses
To increase the retention rate of young managers,
assign them initially to demanding supervisors
Demanding is not the same as “autocratic”
The boss most likely to get new hires off in the right
direction is one with high but achievable expectations
The benefits of challenging experiences are not
limited to the early phase of a career
Those who meet early challenges are better prepared
to contribute in their middle and late careers as well
Setting the stage for successfully managing a career
can help avoid stagnation and dissatisfaction
14-41
Career Development During Midcareer
Common mid-career problems:
Higher levels of stress
Personal and family problems associated with
midlife crisis and transition
Dealing with the notion that one’s most productive
years may already be past
Trying to deal with these pressures can lead to:
Job withdrawal
Mid-career can be rewarding
Substance abuse if career management
programs are in place
Depression
14-42
Career Development During Midcareer
Training is an important way to help midcareer
managers:
Improve skills
Improve knowledge
Grow intellectually

Merely showing an interest introduces the

Hawthorne effect
It is especially important at midcareer to receive
such signals from the organization
14-43
The Midcareer Plateau
Managers face a midcareer plateau during the adult
stage of life and the maintenance phase of careers
The likelihood of upward promotion is low because
there are fewer jobs at the top
Openings may exist, but the manager lacks the
ability, skills, or desire to fill them
Managers in this position cope in consistent ways:
Depression, poor health, and fear of/hostility toward
subordinates
They “retire” on the job or leave the organization
14-44
The Midcareer Plateau
Midcareer crisis is real
It has psychological and physical effects that can
become dangerous if not properly handled
Individuals who have coped effectively:
John W. Culligan was 64 when promoted to chair-
person of American Home Products
Thomas S. Derek started the Ugly Duckling Rent-A-
Car agency after retiring from a 30-year career as a
life insurance agent
Joyce Fox got her first job at 41 and became VP of
international loans at American Express Bank
14-45
Counteracting Midcareer Problems

Counteracting midcareer problems involves

counseling and providing alternatives
14-46
Midcareer Counseling
Midcareer managers are often
well-educated and articulate
Verbalizing problems to an
objective listener is often enough
to allow them to recognize their
problems and cope with them
constructively
14-47
Midcareer Counseling

At times, the organization needs to accept career

moves that are usually viewed as unacceptable:
Lateral transfers
Downward transfers
Failback positions
14-48
Lateral Transfer
A lateral transfer means moving from one depart-
ment to another at the same organizational level
The manager must learn the technical demands of the
new position quickly
There will be a period of reduced performance as this
learning occurs
Once qualified, the manager will bring the
perspectives of both areas to bear on decisions
14-49
Downward Transfer
Downward transfers are equated with failure, unless
one or more of these conditions exist:
The manager wants to stay in, or move to, a specific
geographic area
The manager wants to establish a base for future
promotions
The manager must choose between dismissal or a
downward move
The manager wants to pursue autonomy and
self-actualization in non-job activities
14-50
Failback Positions
Having a failback position means identifying a
position to return to if the new job doesn’t work out
Allowing a failback position means the organization
accepts some of the responsibility for the transfer
It protects the careers of those who are making their
first moves into management
This does not excuse managers from taking
responsibility for themselves
Formulating career plans early on minimizes the risk
of becoming obsolete or redundant
14-51
Pre-retirement Problems

Many organizations are ill-prepared to help retirees

develop a truly secure retirement
The problem is becoming increasingly important as
workers retire at earlier ages and organizations cut
retirement benefits to reduce costs
14-52
Retirement Adjustment Problems
Organizations must consider questions such as:
When do employees plan to retire?
Who is attracted by early retirement?
What do employees plan to do during retirement?
Can the organization help prepare for these activities?
Do retirees plan a second career? Can the
organization assist in this preparation?
Which retirees can still be consulted by the
organization to help new employees?
14-53
Retirement Adjustment Problems
Retirement is feared by some, anticipated by others
Counseling and education programs can make the
transition from employment to retirement easier
In most cases, a retired person must learn to:
Accept a reduced role
Manage a less structured life
Make accommodations for family and community

IBM aids this transition by offering tuition for

courses on any topic within three years of retirement
14-54
Retirement Adjustment Problems

By 2016, the annual number retiring will be 4

million
In the wake of downsizing, a growing number of
companies will need retirees to come back to work
This is due to a skills gap between new employees
and organizational needs
14-55
Career Planning and Pathing
Organizational career planning means matching an
individual’s career aspirations with opportunities
Career pathing is the sequencing of the specific jobs
associated with those opportunities
If career management is to be successful, the
individual and the organization must assume an equal
share of the responsibility for it
14-56
Career Planning and Pathing
Sample career path for a manager
Insert Exhibit 14-8 here
14-57
Career Planning
Per the American Management Association (AMA),
the most widely used informal approaches are:
Counseling by the personnel staff
Career counseling by supervisors

More formal but less used approaches involve:

Workshops
Seminars
Self-assessment centers
14-58
Informal Counseling
Organizations often offer counseling services for
employees who wish to assess their abilities/interests
Counseling can also involve personal concerns,
which are important for determining career
aspirations
Career counseling is usually part of evaluations
Employees should be told how well they have done,
and what the future holds
Few supervisors know about needs and opportunities
throughout the organization, so more formal and
systematic counseling approaches are often needed
14-59
Formal Counseling
Workshops, assessment centers, and career
development centers are being used more often
Management trainees and “high-potential” or “fast-
track” candidates have received most attention to date
Women and minority employees are receiving
increased attention
Development programs for women and minorities
indicate an organization’s commitment to affirmative
action
14-60
Formal Counseling
Syntex Corp.’s Career Development Center found
eight skill areas related to effective management:
Problem analysis
Communication
Goal setting
Making decisions and handling conflicts
Selecting, training, and motivating employees
Controlling employees
Interpersonal competence
Use of time
14-61
Formal Counseling
Practices to facilitate an employee’s career plans:
Tuition aid
Job posting

At a minimum, job postings should:

Include promotions, transfers, permanent vacancies
Be posted 3-6 weeks prior to external recruiting
Have explicit and straightforward eligibility rules
Clearly state selection and bidding instructions
Give vacationing employees an opportunity to apply
Notify rejected applicants in writing
14-62
Formal Counseling
HRIS technology is now one of the most significant
career management tools
It enhances an individual’s career planning activities
and saves money for the organization
Many corporations are relying more heavily on
filling job vacancies from within
The key is making sure applicants know about the job
opening and its requirements
The organization must also know which current
employees are qualified for the vacancy
An effective HRIS job posting program does both
14-63
Formal Counseling

The World Wide Web is becoming a valuable

resource for people who want to help their careers
Thousands of organizations utilize their websites to
recruit and inform employees
14-64
Career Pathing
An organization’s future workforce depends on the
passage of individuals through the ranks
A career path is the sequence of jobs that one wants
to undertake to achieve personal and career goals
Systematic planning can close the gap between
individual and organizational needs
14-65
Career Pathing
Traditional career paths have emphasized upward
mobility in a single operation or functional area
There is a pervasive attitude that not moving up
within an expected time frame equals failure
This makes it hard to use lateral and downward
transfers as alternatives for managers who no longer
wish to pay the price of upward promotion
As one nears the top of the organization, the number
of openings declines and the number of candidates
increases
14-66
Career Pathing
An alternative method bases career paths on real-
world experiences and individualized preferences
Paths of this kind:
Include lateral, downward, and upward
possibilities
Are not tied to “normal” rates of progress
Are tentative and responsive to organizational
needs
Take into account the qualities of individuals
Specify jobs in terms of acquirable skills,
knowledge, and other specific attributes
14-67

Career Development Programs:

Problems and Issues
14-68
Career Development & Workforce Planning
Career development provides a supply of talent and
ability
Workforce planning projects the demand

It seems that organizations undertaking one activity

would undertake the other
Some organizations have one or the other, not both

Integrating development and planning is hard to do:

Development is done by psychologists; economists
and systems analysts handle planning
Career development occurs in personnel departments;
workforce planning is the function of planning staffs
14-69
Managing Dual Careers
In the past, many companies wouldn’t employ
both a husband and wife
Organizations now try to accommodate the unique
pressures that exist when both spouses work
Relocation is difficult for dual-career couples
Many offer special career planning programs for
dual-career couples
Talented people can be lost if the organization is too
inflexible
14-70
Managing Dual Careers
Maternity leave has negative overtones
Taking six months off is assumed
fatal to a career
Peer pressure perpetuates the belief
that paternity leave unfairly burdens
coworkers with extra work
Some couples compromise by having the husband
work at home while the wife recovers
There are currently more than 25 million dual-
career couples
14-71
Managing Dual Careers
According to the Department of Labor, 29 percent of
working wives make more than their husbands
This figure has grown by 53% since 1988
Among upper-income women, the numbers are
higher
Why is this happening when women, on average,
make only 70% of their male counterparts?
Women are better educated than they used to be
More women are working full-time
EEO laws removed or lowered barriers that hold
women back
14-72
Hints for Dealing With Dual Careers
Conduct a survey to determine:
How many employees are in a two-career situation
How many people who interviewed for positions are
in a dual-career situation
Where, and at what level in the organization, the
dual-career employees are
What conflicts these employees have now
If these dual-career couples perceive company policy
and practices to be helpful to their careers
14-73
Hints for Dealing With Dual Careers
Present realistic previews of what the company offers
dual-career couples
Revise policies regarding career development and
transfer; most are based on a one-career family
Providiedual-career couples with special career
management assistance
Establish cooperative employment arrangements with
other organizations
Establish flexible working hours
Remember that non-managerial personnel are also
members of dual-career families
14-74
Hints for Dealing With Dual Careers
Relocating a spouse abroad is especially difficult in
dual-career situations
Visits home
Extended vacation benefits
Family culture training
Electronic communication needs

Unless both partners are relocated at the same time,

to the same location, these issues must be addressed:
Adjustment
Stress
Distance
14-75
Career Planning and Equal Employment
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is now 40 years old
Tremendous strides have been made in providing
women and minorities with equal employment
Still, few have made it to the top of organizations

A “glass ceiling” is still a reality

Some still believe that women and minorities cannot
be effective managers
Women and minorities feeling such resistance often
leave, resulting in a drain of needed talent
14-76
Career Planning and Equal Employment
Few minorities make it to the top of organizations
90% of officers of large corporations are white males

White males feel threatened by affirmative action

No data support the claim that they are being replaced
by minorities
Above-average males still progress; below-average
performers lag behind
The threat is most felt when the economy slows and
the few promotions available go to women and
minorities
14-77
Career Planning and Equal Employment
Nothing guarantees that white males will support
affirmative action programs, but some practices
offer promise
Providing open and complete information about
promotions
Allowing white males to see precisely where they
stand
If given such information, white males:
Are less likely to over-estimate their disadvantage
Can assess their position more accurately
14-78
Downsizing and Job Loss
An increasing number of companies consider
employees vital assets, but downsizing continues
Downsizing seems sensible because it eliminates
unneeded positions and reduces bureaucracy
However, it eliminates an organization’s memory
and sense of values
More humane options:
Retention
Lateral transfers
Temporary work
14-79
Downsizing and Job Loss
A job layoff exists when three conditions occur:
There is no work and the employee is sent home
Management expects the no-work situation to be
temporary
Management intends to recall the employee

Job loss means the employee has permanently lost

the job
No company
is immune to
eliminating
jobs
14-80
Effects of Job Loss
Cobb and Kasl studied job loss and discovered that:
Job loss is:
Stressful and requires several months to adjust
Linked to depression, anomie, and suspicion
Illness and drug use were:
High during the anticipation phase
Dropped at termination
Rose again at six months
Those who were unemployed longer and had less
social support experienced more stress
14-81
Effects of Job Loss

Higher levels of unemployment are linked to higher

levels of:
Social disorders
First admissions to mental hospitals
Suicide
14-82
Effects of Job Loss
Tentative conclusions:
Denial/disbelief is a typical response to layoff rumors
As rumors circulate and some lose their jobs, there is
high anxiety among the remaining employees
Several weeks after job loss, there is a period of
relaxation, relief, optimism, and vigorous job hunting
Friends and family play a major supporting role
Those still unemployed after four or more months go
through a period of doubt; they may experience panic,
rage, or erratic behavior
14-83
Managerial Responses to Layoffs/Job Loss
Consistently strong performance is one way to guard
against the need for job layoffs or job loss
An efficient appraisal system can help pinpoint poor
performance and initiate corrective steps
Uncontrollable events that can require a cutback:
Decrease in market demand
Reduced availability of resources
Competition
14-84
Managerial Responses to Layoffs/Job Loss
The best time to prepare for job layoff and job loss
is when business is good
Establishing layoff criteria is an important step
Seniority is the criterion most commonly used
A valid and reliable performance appraisal system
can also be used
Some firms use a panel of managers from outside
the work unit to decide who will be laid off
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Managerial Responses to Layoffs/Job Loss
Creating an outplacement services unit is another
valuable step
Services can include such things as:
Help with resumes
Use of company telephones
Letters of introduction
Reference letters
Payment of placement fees Some firms
Career counseling also provide
severance pay
Retraining
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Managerial Responses to Layoffs/Job Loss
Job layoffs and job loss are expected to continue into
the foreseeable future
Management must continue to study the related
problems and experiment with solutions
At present, we need more information on:
Women’s and minority workers’ reactions to job
layoffs and loss
Long-range effects of job loss
How personality predisposes reactions to job loss
Effectiveness of outplacement services
The effect of career halt