Chapter 9 Managing Careers
CHAPTER 9
MANAGING CAREERS
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
The chapter opens with the story of Robert Christensen, who, at 60 years old, was
about to embark on a new career. Robert’s career management skills illustrate some of
the key points in the chapter. The first part of the chapter presents basic career
development concepts, including the rationale for career development, career stages,
and tools for assessing career preferences and styles. The latter part of the chapter
presents extensive suggestions to students on how to manage their own careers in
today’s economic environment, which requires individuals to take responsibility for their
own success.
Additional Features of This Chapter
Exhibit 9-1 summarizes external events and internal events (psychological
experiences) characteristic of each of the career stages.
“Ethical Issues in HRM” can be used to stimulate discussion concerning special
treatment for women and minorities in mentoring programs.
“Did You Know: Where Are The Jobs?” highlights changes in the demand for
certain jobs.
Exhibit 9-3 summarizes Holland’s general occupational themes and exhibit 9-5
lists characteristics frequently associated with Myers Briggs personality types.
A “Workplace Issues” insert discusses what, if any, psychological characteristics
entrepreneurs have in common.
An "Ethical Decisions in HRM" insert discusses special mentoring programs for
women and minorities.
ADDITIONAL LECTURE OR ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS
Discuss the relevance in today’s work place of concepts such as career stages and
career planning. Many students today, especially those in the “baby buster” or
“Generation X” age groups see many more options, yet fewer opportunities, than their
parents had. Ask students to share their current career plans, uncertainties, and
assumptions. This should be a lively discussion, and expect students to bring up issues
such as “it’s not what you know, but only who you know,” and “lifestyle and friends are
more important than loyalty to a company”. Another good topic for discussion is what
do you do when a couple’s careers conflict?
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If you are not trained in any of the current popular preference inventories, such as the
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, see if someone from your university testing or counseling
center would be willing to administer one, on a voluntary basis, to your students. This
will not be feasible in a large class, but you can have someone from the testing center
give a guest lecture where they explain the various diagnostic tools they use to students
who make use of their services. Many students are not even aware of what careerrelated services are available to them at the university.
Ask students to interview a professional they admire. Focus questions on the person’s
career path. Students can report out in class and share highlights. The discussion
should give students realistic ideas about how to achieve their goals.
Invite a representative from your career placement department to give an overview of
the services available on campus. Stimulate Q&A.
CHAPTER OUTLINE AND LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
I. Introduction
A. Traditionally, career development referred to programs offered by organizations
to help employees advance within the organization. Today, each individual
must take responsibility for his or her career. While many organizations still
invest in their employees, they don’t offer career security and they can’t meet the
needs of everyone in a diverse workforce.
B. Organizations now focus on matching the career needs of employees with the
requirements of the organization.
II. What is a career?
A. Definition
1. Pattern of work-related experiences that span the course of a person’s life.
Reflects any work, paid or unpaid.
2. Broad definition helpful in today’s work environment where employees and
organizations have diverse needs.
B. Individual versus Organizational Perspective
1. Organizational career planning – Developing career ladders, tracking careers,
providing opportunities for development.
2. Individual career development – Helping employees identify their goals and
steps to achieve them.
C. Career Development versus Employee Development
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1. Career development looks at the long-term career effectiveness and success
of organizational personnel.
2. Employee training and development, discussed in Chapter 8, focuses on
performance in the immediate or intermediate time frames.
D. Career Development: Value for the Organization
1. Ensures needed talent will be available.
2. Improves the organization's ability to attract and retain talented employees.
3. Ensures that minorities and women get opportunities for growth and
development.
4. Reduces employee frustration.
5. Enhances cultural diversity.
6. Promotes organizational goodwill.
E. Career Development: Value for the Individual
1. Individuals’ external career success is measured by criteria such as
progression up the hierarchy, type of occupation, long-term commitment, and
income.
2. Internal career success is measured by the meaningfulness of one’s work
and achievement of personal life goals.
F. Mentoring and Coaching
1. Effective coaches give guidance through direction, advice, criticism, and
suggestion in an attempt to aid the employee’s growth.
2. Mentors are typically senior-level employees who support younger employees
by vouching for them, answering for them in the “highest circles,” introducing
them to others, and advising and guiding them through the corporate system.
3. Disadvantages of having senior employees coaching younger employees
include tendencies to perpetuate current styles and practices and reliance on
the coach’s ability to be a good teacher.
4. Considerations for organizations are coaching between employees who do
not have a reporting relationship and ways to effectively implement crossgender mentoring.
III. Traditional Career Stages (Progression of five stages).
A. Exploration
1. Includes school and early work experiences, such as internships.
2. Involves trying out different fields, discovering likes and dislikes, and forming
attitudes toward work and social relationship patterns.
B. Establishment
1. Includes search for work, getting first job, and getting evidence of “success”
or “failure.”
2. Takes time and energy to find a “niche” and to “make your mark”.
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C. Mid-Career
1. Challenged to remain productive at work.
2. Employee may continue to grow, may plateau (stay competent but not
ambitious), or may deteriorate.
D. Late career
1. Successful “elder states persons” can enjoy being respected for their
judgment. Good resource for teaching others.
2. Those who have declined may experience job insecurity.
3. Plateauing is expected; life off the job increases in importance.
E. Decline (Late Stage)
1. May be most difficult for those who were most successful at earlier stages.
2. Today’s longer life spans and legal protections for older workers open the
possibility for continued work contributions, either paid or volunteer.
IV. Career Choices and Preferences
A. Good career choice outcomes provide positive self-concept and opportunity to
do work we think is important.
B. Holland Vocational Preferences
1. Three major components
a. People have varying occupational preferences
b. If you think your work is important, you will be a more
productive
employee
c. You will have more in common with people who have similar interest
patterns
2. Model identifies six vocational themes (realistic, investigative, artistic,
social, enterprising, conventional). These are used to identify an individual’s
occupational preferences.
3. Preferences can be matched to work environments. For example, socialenterprising-conventional preference structure matches career ladder in large
bureaucracy.
C. The Schein Anchors
1. Personal value clusters (technical-functional competence, managerial
competence, security-stability, creativity, autonomy-independence) determine
what is important to individuals.
2. Success of person-job match determines individual’s fit with the job.
D. Jung and the Myers-Briggs Typologies
1. Four personality dimensions: Extraversion-Introversion, Sensing-Intuitive,
Thinking-Feeling, and Judging-Perceiving are assessed by the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator (MBTI) and identify 16 different personality types.
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2. Job characteristics can be matched to individual preferences.
V. Enhancing Your Career: The individual holds primary responsibility for his/her
career. Suggestions on how to do that are:







Know yourself
Manage your reputation
Build and maintain network contacts
Keep current
Balance your specialist and generalist competencies
Document your achievements
Keep your options open
DEMONSTRATING COMPREHENSION: Questions for Review
1.
What is a career?
A career is a pattern of work-related experiences that span the course of a
person’s life. It reflects any work, whether paid or unpaid.
2.
Contrast employee development with career development. How are they
alike? Different?
The main distinction between employee development and career development
lies in their time frames. Employee development focuses on more of the
immediate and intermediate time frames. Career development focuses on the
long-range career effectiveness and success of organizational personnel.
3.
How might a formal career development program be consistent with an
organization's affirmative action plan?
An affirmative action plan should be based on an analysis of availability of
qualified individuals in specific areas compared to company utilization of
individuals in underrepresented groups.
As an organization examines
representation of various groups in different positions, they should also get a
good understanding of how individuals enter those positions and should examine
how reasonable the job qualifications are. Clarifying appropriate qualifications
and logical career paths should enhance both affirmative action efforts and the
overall career development program. The assistance offered by the organization
to increase the career opportunities of underrepresented groups should include
many of the same activities as a career development program -- mentoring,
career advising, recruitment from within, skill-enhancement training, etc. Ideally,
career development assistance will be available to all employees, but will
recognize the unique needs and styles of those who have been
underrepresented in the organization’s work force.
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4.
Contrast the external and internal dimensions of a career. Which do you
believe is more relevant in determining an employee's work behavior?
The external dimensions of a career involve properties or qualities of an
occupation or an organization and may also be characterized by such things as
career ladders.
The internal dimensions of a career can include such things as accumulation of
external symbols of success, long-term commitment to a particular occupational
field, or work-related attitudes and behaviors.
Which one is more relevant in determining an employee’s work behavior is an
answer that may be different for each employee because different employees
may respond to different motivational tools.
5.
What are the five traditional career stages? Which of the five traditional
career stages is probably least relevant to HRM? Defend your position.
The five career stages are exploration, establishment, mid-career, late career,
and decline (Late Stage).
The one career stage that occurs prior to employment is the exploration stage.
The other four stages occur in the workplace and HRM is directly involved in
helping employees manage their careers in these stages. While the exploration
stage is least relevant, it is still important in helping HR understand what goals
and attitudes an employee brings to the workplace.
6.
Identify the Holland vocational preferences and explain the importance of
this model.
The Holland vocational preferences are realistic, investigative, artistic, social,
enterprising, and conventional. The model helps identify people’s occupational
preferences. Research has shown that if you do a job you think is important, you
will be a more productive employee. Additionally, we prefer to work with people
with whom we are compatible. Knowing what you prefer helps identify jobs that
you will find satisfying.
7.
What is a mentor and how do you go about finding one?
A mentor is usually a senior employee who takes an active role in guiding
another individual. This guidance involves direction, advice, criticism and
suggestions. You should find out if your organization has a formal mentoring
program. Additionally, observe senior level managers. Who has power and
access? Who would be a good teacher? Try to position yourself to come in
contact with that person. Above all, don’t be afraid to ask for their advice.
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LINKING CONCEPTS TO PRACTICE: Discussion Questions
1.
Which career perspective is more relevant to HRM managers: the individual
or the organizational? Defend your position.
Career development from an organizational standpoint involves tracking career
paths and developing career ladders. From an individual perspective, career
development focuses on assisting individuals in identifying their major career
goals and determining what they need to do to achieve these goals. Both
perspectives are important to managers as they realistically help develop
employees. An employee who is excited and committed to a career path is
usually a very productive one. Such development can not take place unless the
manager is cognizant of opportunities in the organization and the attitudes in the
organization toward various career path/ladder options.
2.
Do you think a person's age and career stage evolve together? Why or why
not?
A generation ago, age and career stage were highly correlated, indicating that
they did evolve together. However, today, people change careers often, so the
correlation is not as high. People in their forties change careers, reentering the
exploration stage. People in their sixties retire and start a new career, reentering
the exploration stage. Although career stages, like all stage theories are
somewhat time related, career options are more open and varied than they were
in the past. For example, think about the number of students attending this
school who would be considered “nontraditional” from an age perspective.
3.
Which of the 16 Myers-Briggs Typologies do you believe are more
consistent with the behaviors needed in a) a sales position; b) a computer
programmer; and c) HRM recruiter. Support your selections.
Sales position – ESFJ. Individuals with strong enterprising vocational preference
need to succeed, to excel in their work. They are competitive and often
concerned with material success. A person who works on commission needs to
be enterprising.
Computer programmer – ISTJ. A programmer must work with details, work
autonomously much of the time, and complete complex programs according to a
set schedule.
HRM recruiter – ENFJ. Recruiters want to work with other people and would
have a strong social vocational preference. Much of their job satisfaction would
come from interpersonal contact with others through influencing, helping, and
directing.
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4.
"Women and minorities require more career attention than do white
males." Do you agree or disagree with the statement? Why or why not?
Agree. Women and minorities do not have equal access to many of the informal
mechanisms that often are important to career development. Mentoring,
networking, professional associations are not as accessible to women and
minorities. Attention should be given by the organization to assure equal access
to all opportunities.
Disagree. Women and minorities, once they have access to the same jobs,
should be able to get the same promotions as white males.
5.
"Investments in career development do not provide an organization a
viable return on its investment. It simply raises employees' expectations,
and then, if not fulfilled, employees leave. Accordingly, the organization
has trained employees for its competitors.” Take a position in support of
this statement, and one against it.
Agree. If career development is just an exercise in the employee taking courses
or participating in workshops, with no promotion foreseeable, then employees
can get discouraged. If these employees are not considered desirable for the
company and leave, this may be tolerable. It is a less desirable outcome if the
employees have no options and become frustrated within the company.
Disagree. One option is for companies to design a well-planned career
development program which matches employees with actual opportunities.
Another option is to look at career development activities as benefits offered to
employees instead of traditional job security. If you are honest about the
purpose of your program, employees may appreciate the chance to learn and
develop and plan their careers while they work for you, even if they and you
recognize that they may not work for you for a lifetime.
CASE APPLICATION 9-A: A FUDGE CAREER
CASE SUMMARY
Eric Watson built a successful career based on his belief that there was good in
all people, but sometimes you had to help others find it. After 21 years in one
job working six to seven days a week, he reassessed what he wanted and left
the company for a less demanding job that would allow him to spend more time
with his family.
1.
Describe what happened in this case to Amy Fudge in terms of career
stages.
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Amy had reached the mid-career stage of his professional life and was
assessing his options – “What do I really want to do?” Eric decided to make a
change so he could work less and have more family time.
2.
Do you believe Watson suffered a midlife career crisis? If so, why?
No. Amy had achieved professional success. She assessed the current state of
her life and decided she wanted more time for her herself and more of a “normal”
life. She then proceeded to make changes that would let her achieve her revised
goals.
3.
What can organizations do to prevent talent like Amy Fudge from leaving
their organizations? Explain.
Companies can provide opportunities that allow employees an option to remain
productive members of the company but in less demanding positions. The
employees get their lives in balance and the company retains talented and
experienced employees. It’s a win-win situation. In some cases, employers give
valued, long-term employees paid, or unpaid, sabbaticals after which they can
return to the job.
CASE APPLICATION 9-B: TEAM FUN!
CASE SUMMARY
Tony and Bobby are speculating about what the future holds for their respective
careers. At the same time, Bobby tells Tony why Kenny and Norton started
TEAM FUN!.
1.
Define career and success for Bobby, Tony, Kenny and Norton.
Career can be defined as the pattern of work-related experiences that span the
course of a person’s life. It can include paid or unpaid experiences as well as
experiences such as schoolwork, homemaking, or volunteer work. All four have
experienced success through extrinsic rewards, but they also have all succeeded
through intrinsic rewards, the most prevalent being having achieved a sense of
satisfaction from their careers.
2.
Trace career stages for each of them.
Career stages consist of five defined periods: exploration, establishment, midcareer, late career, and decline. Bobby appears to be at stage 3, mid-career,
along with Tony. Kenny and Norton are at the late career stage. They readily
pass on the value of their experiences to Bobby, Tony, and others. They are
enjoying the confidence that comes with maturity and successful experiences.
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3.
What career and employee development activities should Kenny and
Norton provide for Bobby and Tony?
Employee development activities deal with current efforts to enhance an
employee’s ability to do the job now. For example, Kenny and Norton should
make sure that Tony and Bobby have the opportunity to attend seminars that will
keep them abreast of current events in their respective career fields.
Although career development is the responsibility of the individual and not the
company, Kenny and Norton could make sure that Tony and Bobby have an
opportunity to further their education, perhaps by getting an MBA. The additional
knowledge they would acquire would be beneficial to Tony and Bobby and to the
company and would enhance both employees’ long-term development.
4.
Identify Holland Vocational Preferences for Bobby, Tony, Kenny and
Norton.
Holland Vocational Preferences consists of six vocational themes: realistic,
social, investigative, enterprising, artistic, and conventional. An individual’s
occupational personality is expressed as a combination of high and low scores
on these six themes. Bobby, Tony, Kenny, and Norton would probably score
high on the following combinations.
Bobby – enterprising, realistic, Kenny – enterprising, social, artistic
artistic
Tony – conventional, social, artistic
Norton – enterprising, realistic,
artistic
5.
Suggest several career management strategies that Bobby and Tony could
utilize.
Exhibit 9-6 lists several suggestions students can expand upon:
 Know yourself
 Manage your reputation
 Build and maintain network contacts
 Keep current
 Balance you specialist and generalist competencies.
 Document your achievements.
 Keep your options open.
Bobby and Tony already have successful careers so their focus should be on
maintaining them and keeping their skills current. They also need to represent
the company well and have good communication with Kenny and Norton.
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WORKING WITH A TEAM: CAREER INSIGHTS
OVERVIEW
Students imagine that they are stuck on an elevator with two other individuals
who are in the building for interviews. You pose a series of questions to each
other about career assumptions and plans.
SUGGESTIONS/VARIATIONS
Students can write the answers to these questions, or respond to them in small
teams. Discuss why it is more difficult for some individuals to answer these
questions than others.
Students can practice coaching skills as they ask each other the questions.
Specifically, ask them to:
 Listen actively to each others’ responses by summarizing, reflecting, and
probing.
 Ask additional questions that will help their classmates to formulate a
“plan of action” to guide their career for the next two years.
 Use the exercise as an opportunity to formulate their own action plans for
career development. They can set goals and plan specific activities for
the next 2 years, next 5 years, and next 10 years.
After the small group discussions, direct students to write both short-term and
long-term career goals. Solicit examples from the students and write them across
the board. Ask the class to generate specific activities or tactics students can use
to achieve the goals and list them under the appropriate goal. Students can first
do this in pairs or groups if the class tends not to volunteer answers. Integrate
your own personal experience if possible.
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