human resources management unit 26

7/30/2019 Human Resources Management UNIT 26

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UNIT 26

Career Planning

Every individual has his own job ambitions. To fulfil all such ambitions onehas to acquire the necessary qualifications and skills. He should also find an

organisation that is prepared to take him. While in service, the individual

has to constantly update his job knowledge and skill and only then he will be

able to move to higher positions.

The career of a person, thus, is not something totally determined by

him. It is determined by the efforts made by the individual to quip himself

for a particular position and the willingness of his employer to place him in

that position.

This Chapter is devoted to a discussion on Career Planning.

Career Meaning

The career of a person is nothing but the sequence of positions held by

him in the course of his working life. The credentials of the individual and

the needs of the organisation must coincide for the former to have a career.

Definition

Edwin B. Flippo has defined a career as a sequence of separate but

related work activities that provide continuity, order and meaning in a

persons life.

Career, thus, is an individually perceived sequence of attitudes and

behaviours associated with work-related experiences ad activities over the

span of a persons life.


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Career Planning

Career planning is the process by which a person selects his carrer

goals and the path to attain these goals. Career goals are the further

positions a person strives to reach. The sequential pattern of jobs that form a

career is what is known as career path.

The career path of a person desirous of a career in sales may be as

shown below:

The career path for college teachers is as follows:

Characteristics of Career Planning

Given below are the salient features of career planning:

1. It is a process of developing the human resources of an organisation.To be able to move to higher position in his career path a person has to

acquire additional qualifications and skills. This, obviously, leads to

the development of human resources.

2. Integration of individual and organisational needs is the mainobjective of career planning.

3. Career planning is mutually beneficial, i.e., both the employee and theorganisation are benefited. As far as the employee is concerned, career

planning helps him to movie to superior positions. If we see from the

point of view of the organisation, it helps to obtain ptimum results.

4. Career planning is a continuous process as the work environment isnever static.

5.Although career planning is the responsibility of the employee, theorganisational is expected to provide the necessary guidance and

counselling to drive optimum benefits out of its human resource.


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Career Planning and Manpower Planning

The distinction between career planning and manpower planning may

be tabulated as follows:

Career Planning Manpower Planning

1. It is the responsibility of boththe employment and the

management.

1. It is the responsibility of themanagement alone.

2. It gives important to thedevelopment of the human

resources of an organisation.

2. It gives utmost importance tothe selection of the right man

for the right job.

3. It is a process by which aperson selects career goals and

the path to reach these goals.

3. It is a process by which anorganisation strives to move

from its current manpower

positions to the desired

manpower position.

4. It is concerned with thepositions a person is fit to hold

in an organisation.

4. It is concerned with the task ofidentifying the vacancies in an

organisation.

5. It starts after recruitment andselection of candidates.

5. It precedes the recruitment ofcandidates for jobs.

6. It help to retain competentpersons.

6. It helps to overcome theproblem of either surplus or

shortage of labour.


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Succession Planning

Succession planning is concerned with identifying, developing and

preparing the people to occupy higher level jobs as and when they fall

vacant. Higher level jobs like those of the General Manager, the

departmental managers and so on may fall vacant due to such reasons as

retirement, resignation, death etc.

Succession ca be from within or from outside the organisation. in some

organisations, the managers are asked to identify a couple of competent

juniors who could be their successors. Organisations search for outside

talent in cases where competent persons are not available from within.

Distinction between Career Planning and Succession Planning

The points of distinction between career planning and succession

planning have been tabulated below:

Career Planning Succession Planning

1. It covers all levels ofemployees.

1. It covers top level executives.

2. It is concerned with thepositions an employee is fit to

hold in an organisation.

2. It is concerned with theidentification of vacancies that

are likely to arise at the higher

levels and choose the probable

successors.

3. It is generally the mutualresponsibility of both the

employee and the

management.

3. It is the task of he managementalone.


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4. It is the process by which aperson selects is his career

goals and the career path to

reach the goals.

4. It is the process by whichsuccessors are found to key

executives of the organisation.

Need for Career Planning

The need for or importance of career planning may be stated as follows:

1. To attract talent It helps to attract talented persons towards theorganisation. an employee who sees bright career prospects in an

organisation decides to remain there till his retirement. On the other

hand, if he sees no career prospects, he may decide to quit,.

2. To enable employees to equip better to meet future challenges Itenables the employees to equip themselves better to meet further

challenges. It may not be possible for an employee to have his career in

an organisation without enriching his qualifications and skills and

improving his performance level. He, therefore, has to enrich his job

knowledge and have greater credentials to have a longer association

with the organisation.

3. To provide career advancement benefits It provides suitable careeradvancement benefits (promotion opportunities) to the employees. An

employee need not serve in the same position for an indefinite period.

As he completes certain years of service or reaches a particular level of

sales representative who has been consistently attaining his targets

may be promoted as a sales officer or as a junior sales executive.


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4. To ensure correct placement of employees Career planning furtherhelps to ensure the correct placement of employees example, an

employee who has proved himself in a particular position may be given

a better placement where he will be of greater value to the

organisation. Such a gesture on the part of the management also gives

the employee happiness and increase his loyalty towards his employer

5. To retain talent Absence of career prospects in an organisation wouldforce talented persons to quit. As a result the organisation may be

deprived of competent employees. Career planning, on the part of the

organisation, thus, helps to retain talented employees.

6. To promote job satisfaction Career planning promotes jobsatisfaction among employees and reduces labour turnover. As the

employees are assured of career advancement benefits at regular

intervals, they have greater job satisfaction. This reduces the rate of

labour turnover.

7. To improve morale Employees develop a positive attitude towardswork, as they know that hard work would pay rich dividends in the

form of higher posts and positions in the organisation. The morale of

the employees, thus, is very high.

Process of Career Planning

The process of career planning involves the following stages:

1. Analysing the potentials of individuals2.Analysing career opportunities3. Matching individual aspirations and organisational needs4. Preparing and implementing action plans


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5. ReviewLet us now discuss each of these stages.

Analysing the Potentials of Individuals

The potentials of every employee in terms of skills acquired and job

performance must be analysed. It is also necessary to identify his career goals

and aspirations. Appraisal of employees will reveal how many of them have

the potentials to undertake greater responsibilities.

Analysing Career Opportunities

The next step is to make an analysis of the career opportunities

available within the organisation. For example, if we consider the sales

department of a concern, it may have any of the following career paths

depending upon the scale of operation:

Figure 26.3 depicts the career path in sales in a large organisation.

obviously the career opportunities in such an organisation are greater. On

the other hand, Figure 26.4 depicts the career path in an organisation

operating on a medium scale where the career opportunities are less.

Matching individual Aspirations and Organisational Needs

In any organisation at the lower level any employee may reach certain

positions provided he fulfils the eligibility criterion. For example, a peon may

become a clerk or a clerk may become an officer by fulfilling the eligibility

norms.

At the higher level of the organisational hierarchy although many

individuals may have the potentials and aspirations for certain positions,

only one of them will be able to reach such a position. For example, if three

persons contest for the post of a departmental manager, only one of them


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can be selected. Similarly, if five senior professors in a college apply for the

post of the principal, only one of them will get selected finally.

Preparing and Implementing Action Plans

Action plan in respect of an employees career may provide for such

measures as:

(i) Requiring and also helping the employee to enrich his skill or workknowledge further to be able to perform higher level tasks.

(ii) Requiring and also assisting him to acquire higher qualifications.(iii) Creating new career paths to accommodate and satisfy employees

with potentials and so on.

Review

The action plan prepared and implemented must be reviewed

periodically to ensure that it contributes effectively to the utilization of

the available manpower. Each time the plan is reviewed, the management

can know whether the selection of employees for higher positions is

correct and whether such employees are making an earnest attempt to

equip themselves better.

Pre-requisites for Successful Career Planning

The success of career planning depends on the existence of the

following conditions:

1. The organisation must have definite goals.2. The career plan must have the support of the top management.3. There must be development and expansion activities taking place in

the organisation in a phased manner.


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4. The organisation must have ambitious, committed and talentedemployees.

5. Endeavour must always be made to select the most suitable person forevery position.

6. Steps must be taken to minimise career stress.7. The organisation must follow a sound promotion policy.

Evaluation of Career Planning Advantages from Employees point of

view

The following are the advantages of career planning from the point of

view of the employees:

1. It helps the employees to have knowledge of the career opportunitiesin the organisation.

2. The individual is able to select this career based on his strengths,weaknesses, lifestyle and so on.

3. It provides scope for the employees to have longer association with theorganisation.

4. It induces the employees to update themselves by acquiring greaterskills and qualifications.

5. The existence of career paths and promotion opportunities motivatesthe employees to perform better.

Evaluation of Career Planning Advantages from the organisations

point of view

Career planning offers the following advantages to the organisation:


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1. It enables the organisation to make use of the available talentfruitfully.

2.Availability of career prospects also attracts talent from outside theorganisation.

3.As mentioned above the existence of career opportunities motivatesthe employees to work hard. This leads to higher output.

4. Every employee may wait for his turn of promotion and may not thinkin terms of leaving the organisation. This would bring down the rate of

labour turnover.

5. It increases the employees loyalty towards the organisation.Limitations

The drawbacks of career planning are as follows:

1. No career can provide opportunities for advancement for all categoriesof employees.

2. Certain external factors like Government regulations, technologicaladvantages etc., may disturb career plans.

3. Favoritism and nepotism may also come as a stumbling block in theprocess of implementing any career plan.

4. Some employees who have the potentials may not be willing to take uphigher positions due to personal reasons.

human resources management unit 26

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