UNIT 26

Career Planning
Every individual has his own job ambitions. To fulfil all such ambitions one has 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.

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 main objective of career planning. 3. Career planning is mutually beneficial, i.e., both the employee and the organisation 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 is never static. 5. Although career planning is the responsibility of the employee, the organisational is expected to provide the necessary guidance and counselling to drive optimum benefits out of its human resource.

Career Planning and Manpower Planning The distinction between career planning and manpower planning may be tabulated as follows: Career Planning
1.

Manpower Planning
1.

It is the responsibility of both the employment and the management.

It is the responsibility of the management alone.

2. It gives important to the development of the human resources of an organisation. 3. It is a process by which a person selects career goals and the path to reach these goals.

2. It gives utmost importance to the selection of the right man for the right job. 3. It is a process by which an organisation strives to move from its current manpower positions to the desired manpower position.

4. It is concerned with the positions a person is fit to hold in an organisation. 5. It starts after recruitment and selection of candidates. 6. It help to retain competent persons.

4. It is concerned with the task of identifying the vacancies in an organisation. 5. It precedes the recruitment of candidates for jobs. 6. It helps to overcome the problem of either surplus or shortage of labour.

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 1. It covers all levels of employees. 2. It is concerned with the positions an employee is fit to hold in an organisation. 2. It is concerned with the identification of vacancies that are likely to arise at the higher levels and choose the probable successors. 3. It is generally the mutual responsibility of both the employee and the management. 3. It is the task of he management alone. Succession Planning 1. It covers top level executives.

4. It is the process by which a person selects is his career goals and the career path to reach the goals.

4. It is the process by which successors 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 the organisation. 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 It enables 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 career advancement 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.

4. To ensure correct placement of employees Career planning further helps 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 would force 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 job satisfaction 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 towards work, 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 individuals 2. Analysing career opportunities 3. Matching individual aspirations and organisational needs 4. Preparing and implementing action plans

5. Review Let 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

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 work knowledge 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.

4. The organisation must have ambitious, committed and talented employees. 5. Endeavour must always be made to select the most suitable person for every 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 opportunities in 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 the organisation. 4. It induces the employees to update themselves by acquiring greater skills and qualifications. 5. The existence of career paths and promotion opportunities motivates the employees to perform better. Evaluation of Career Planning Advantages from the organisations point of view Career planning offers the following advantages to the organisation:

1. It enables the organisation to make use of the available talent fruitfully. 2. Availability of career prospects also attracts talent from outside the organisation. 3. As mentioned above the existence of career opportunities motivates the employees to work hard. This leads to higher output. 4. Every employee may wait for his turn of promotion and may not think in 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 categories of employees. 2. Certain external factors like Government regulations, technological advantages etc., may disturb career plans. 3. Favoritism and nepotism may also come as a stumbling block in the process of implementing any career plan. 4. Some employees who have the potentials may not be willing to take up higher positions due to personal reasons.