contemporary thoughts in theory and practice on career development

8/13/2019 Contemporary thoughts in theory and practice on career development

1/6

8 January| 2014 NHRDNetwork Journal

About the Author

Dr. Sandeep K. Krishnan is an Associate Director at People

Business. He is a Fellow (Doctorate) of Indian Institute of

Management Ahmedabad. Prior to joining People business, he has

worked with organizations like IBM, Infosys, Ernst and Young,

and RPG. As a consultant he has led large assignments in the areas

of leadership development, talent management, and employerbranding with both public and private sector organizations. He

is a certied Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR) from HRCI and

has completed certication in Executive Coaching from University of Cambridge.

Sandeep is also an Adjunct Faculty at the Indian Institute of Management Indore.

CONTEMPORARY THOUGHTS IN THEORY AND

PRACTICE ON CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Dr. SANDEEP K KRISHNAN

Career development has been an area ofinterest from an individuals perspective forlong. However, organizations have started

taking a structured approach towardscareer development. In the past few yearswe have seen organizations focusing onpractices that align with employee careerdevelopment. Although career is one ofthe key element of employee retention,and ensuring that he/she sees a long termfocus of the organization, structuring thesofter aspects and harder aspects of careermanagement is not easy. For example,

we have seen organizations focusing onorganization structuring; having detailedcareer paths supported by job descriptions,promotion criteria and venturing to changeit as and when the business realitieswarranted. Clearly, it led to lack ofunderstanding for employees in terms ofwhat they can expect in the organizationand very less in terms of options, whatthe whole structure meant for their career

growth. So while established organizationshad career management infrastructure andtried to make it as a unique proposition

for its employees, it was difcult to tailorto the aspirations and competencies ofemployees. In practice we would have seen

tenure based promotions in private sectororganizations that were no different froma bureaucratic government enterprise.For example, a software engineer wouldbecome a senior software engineer intwo years and would probably becomean assistant manager in another 3 years(the difference was only whether theyear was good for business to giveenough promotions). This eventually

led to meaninglessness in career growthfrom an employee perspective. Theconcept of Protean Careers (Hall, 1996)also got attention with the whole careermanagement becoming a responsibilityof the individual employee and thebelief that individuals should own theircareer and seek opportunities, developthemselves, learn continuously, and adaptto the changing environment. This context

eventually led to the understanding thatcareer management is a joint responsibilityof employees and the organization where


2/6

January| 2014 NHRDNetwork Journal 9

individuals need to have a say in makingtheir career choices.

Current Concepts in Career Management:

One of the interesting concepts in careermanagement that got interest of industrywas Mass Career Customization (MCC)(Benko and Weisberg, 2008). The conceptof Mass Career Customization broughtforth two critical aspects. One there is agrowing interest and trend to move awayfrom the traditional hierarchy based careergrowth. Second, it supported the life cycleof a human being and their career. The key

was giving an opportunity for individualsto have a say in customizing their careeralong four dimensions (Pace, Workload,Location and Schedule, and Role). Thismeant that the employee could have a sayin terms of his/her pace of career progress,workload they would like to take up at anypoint of their career, location preferencesand schedule, and role). The key wasgiving this choice would lead to higher

employee retention and commitment.The second aspect was that it demystiesthe vertical growth aspect. Employeescould take a choice to move vertically,horizontally, or even take a call to workat a lower responsibility level in a newarea. It also provides employees massivescope in terms of career opportunities. Forexample, a Human Resource Head maychoose to take up a functional sales head

responsibility and then move on to be amarketing lead and come back as a HRDirector. Similarly, a software engineerwho is technology oriented, may choose todo a part-time MBA, do a special project inconsulting and move in to IT consultingand after a few years return as a projectmanager in technology. The key is tounderstand that there should be mutualunderstanding between the organization

and the employee and there is a longterm focus. Which meant that it should bewell entrenched into the talent and career

planning process in the organization.

Creating the Soft Infrastructure

Baruch (2006) studied eighteen career

management techniques or practices that would

be relevant or effective.

18 Practices studied by Baruch (2006)

1. Use of performance appraisal (PA)as a basis for career planning

2. Career counseling by directsupervisor

3. Career counseling by HRM unit

4. Books and/or pamphlets on careerissues

5. Common career paths

6. Assessment centre

7 . O t h e r wa y s o f ide n t i f y in gmanagement potential

8. Dual ladder

9. Postings regarding internal job

openings10. Appraisal committees

11. Formal education as part of careerdevelopment

12. Career workshops

13. Written personal career planning foremployees

14. Retirement preparation programmes

15. Mentoring

16. PA as a basis for salary review

17. Management inventory (successionplanning)

18. Training programs for managers

The study found that it is lack of informationwith employees about the programs and

its relevance, lack of long term view aboutcareer, and lack of proper implementationof programs that leads to programs


3/6


not yielding its purported objectives.Interestingly, Budhwar and Baruch(2003) did a similar study with Indianorganizations and found that organizationsuse these practices in different clusters.

Some are related to planning (linkingcareer development to performanceappraisal), some are progressive (use ofassessments like development centers),some are foundational (dual ladders),and aspects related to HR department(their involvement in career development)showed that HR is playing a moreproactive role in career management inorganizations. This also links up to the fact

that HR is expected to have understandingof career guidance and development.

While looking at research and practices,the key elements of a career managementinfrastructure are broadly.

1. Information and understanding

2. Assessment and Guidance

3. Development

4. Internal Job Placement

Many organizations have invested alongthese lines to manage the career interestsof its employees. For example, Infosys asdescribed in Saha (2013) has developed thewhole range of programs under the bannerPathnder. Pathnder is a platform thatprovides information about career streamsand opportunities in the various business

units, supports managers and employees tohave career guidance discussions, enablescareer development through an array ofdevelopment programs, and supportsinternal movements through CareerFairs and Career Seminars. As anorganization which is large and has manycareer streams and job openings, careerseminars and fairs helped individuals toget a fair amount of understanding of the

opportunities available for them. Second,career guidance program helped them tohave a conversation with their managers

and HR and develop a customized careerdevelopment plan. Third, the developmentopportunities through formal training, jobshadowing and internal special projectshelped them for skills development, and

get a rst hand idea about how the nextjob looks like. The key success factor ofPathnder was branding, support fromleaders, programs that were easy to accessby employees, and brilliant execution.

Similarly, at IBM, a whole array of careerguidance resources was made availableto its employees. Termed as Learning@IBM the focus on career developmentencourages employees to do a selfassessment of their skills for a particularrole or career path, use resources availablethat are customized for their development,and participate in organization widedevelopment activities like Mentoringand Job Shadowing. The programs thatare linked to talent review like Bottoms-up, or Business and Technical Resourcesalso helped to identify the key resourcesin technical and business domain and fasttrack them through career developmentinterventions.

The interesting aspect that both IBM andInfosys had used is having a route ofreal experiences that provides a verticalor horizontal job experience. IBM andInfosys have extensively used stretchassignments mostly special projectsand job shadowing to support career

development of individuals. This gaveindividuals an opportunity to try outdifferent functions and businesses or workin a different technology altogether.

Some of the organizations also use careerdevelopment and opportunities aligned toit as a core employee value proposition.For example, RPG Group dened one ofits core employee value propositions asDiverse Strengths Diverse Opportunities.While working closely with PeopleBusiness on dening its value proposition,


4/6


research showed that employees havingan opportunity to work across sectorsand many having successfully moved area great value proposition for current andprospective employees. The successful

execution of this value proposition helpedthe group to leverage talent pool acrossgroup companies to its advantage andat the same time providing employees acanvas beyond their function or companyto a larger group.

Career Development Elements:

The elements of career development clearlygives a lot of scope for organizationsto develop practices in line with their

size, industry, technology infrastructure,manager capabilit ies, and talentmanagement maturity.

Element Processes deployed

Information andunderstanding

Induction program

Recruitment related information

Employee internal website

Career related workshops, HR sessions, leader talks

Career portals

Employee stories

Assessments Employee self assessments

Career Assessments provided by organizationManager assessment of potential

Development Centers

Team based assessments

Guidance Manager discussions during performance appraisal

Formal career guidance discussions

Up-line manager guidance

Formal talent review discussion and decisions

Development Career Development / Individual development plan

Mentoring

Job Shadowing

Coaching

Formal training

Special assignments

Career counseling

Special programs for top talent


5/6


breaks. The interesting point here is

organizations are moving from formaltraining and focusing more on givingjob experiences on the eld. PathnderNext (internal internships at Infosys, thatgives employees short term assignments(Saha, 2013), Stretch assignments at IBM(IBM, 2013), Results based coaching aspracticed by consulting organizations likePeople Business are examples of on the joblearning that also provides a clear outcome

for the organization.Organizations are also focusing onproviding career support to retiringemployees. Educational institutionslike IIMs have given opportunity fortheir retiring professors to continueon a contractual basis till age 70.Similarly, it is not uncommon for seniorprofessionals to get extension beyondtheir regular retirement age. Many

growing rms that nd it difcult tofind trained hands, have also optedto employ retired professionals. LargeNBFCs like Manappuram Group andMuthoot have retired bank ofcers as theirbranch managers and use their serviceto groom younger managers. SecondInnings by retired professionals is aninteresting aspect that will be seriouslylooked at by corporate (Kunhikrishnan

and Krishnan, 2009). Many benevolentorganizations also prepare their seniorexecutives with skills like executive

Element Processes deployed

Placement Internal job postings

Internal messaging

Internal job market

Employee CV and internal hiring

Promotions

Specialized leadership joblling based on internal placementdrills as part of talent review planning and execution

Current research and theory rests at

balancing individual and organizationalobjectives of career management. Based onBudhwar and Baruch (2003), it is importantfor organizations to realize that individualcareers are not predetermined and also notcompletely exible as per organizationalneeds, it is important that individuals havea say in their careers and understand thatindividual preferences towards career willchange with age, life stage, or approach

towards work life balance or materialsuccess.

While most of the engagement surveysshow that employees expect morein terms of career development andmanager supporting them in the process,organizations are taking cognizance of thisfeedback and the focus has been mainly onhipo development (Bhattacharya,2012). Thefocus has been on giving them more live

experiences that will stretch them beyondregular jobs and hence able to learn throughaction. Secondly, it is important that theyget enough guidance and support fromthe ecosystem, including managers andexperience a differentiated developmentsupport. Thirdly, it is important from theindividual and organizational standpointthat feedback and assessment is donefor their readiness for a new role as they

grow. Organizations are also focusing ontransitions like promotions, job moves,re-entry to job after sabbaticals or career


6/6


coaching to prepare for career postretirement.

Conclusion:

Career Development as a practice isgoing to be of more importance fororganizations and the challenge wouldbe to balance organizational andemployee interests. While the processescan have a short term impact, the fruitsof a deep career development programwill be long term. It is also important

for organizations to deploy practices

in line with their industry, size,

and nature of employees. However,

the common factor is that careerdevelopment is about providing more

information, giving individuals an

opportunity to express their aspiration

and assess their potential for the same,

providing guidance and developmentopportunities and having a strong

internal job market to support the nal

outcome of career move.

References:

Baruch, Y. (2006). Organizational career planning and management techniques and activities in use in high-tech organizations, Career

Development International, 1(1), 40-49.Bhattacharya, S (2012). Companies like IBM, HCL Tech, Cognizant, others roll out initiatives to nurture young talent well, Accessed

Online: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-09-11/news/33763229_1_development-programmes-young-leaders-development-experiences.

Benko, C., and Weisberg, A. (2008). Mass Career Customization, Building the corporate lattice organization, Deloitte Review,Accessed online: http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-UnitedStates/Local%20Assets/Documents/Deloitte%20Review/us_ps_USDeloitteReviewMassCareerCustomization_051310.pdf

Budhwar, P.S., and Baruch, Y. (2003). Career management practices in India: an empirical study, International Journal of Manpower,24(6), 699-719.

IBM (2013), Career Development, Accessed online : http://www-07.ibm.com/employment/bcs_career/non-flash/bcs_careers_development.html

Saha, S. (2013). Gaining the competitive advantage, Human Capital, Nov, 50-53.Kunhikrishnan, K. and Krishnan, S. K. (2009), Second Innings, Human Capital, May, 29-31.

Hall, D.T.(1996). Protean Careers of the 21stCentury, Academy of Management Executive, 10(4), 8-15.