Part 3: Training and Developing
Human Resources
Chapter 8: Careers and HR Development
Prepared by Linda Eligh, University of Western Ontario
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8–1
Learning Objectives
After you have read this chapter, you should be
able to:
1. Differentiate between organization-centred and
individual-centred career planning.
2. Discuss several career issues that organizations and
employees face.
3. Discuss the purpose of employee development and
list options for development needs analyses.
4. Explain why succession planning has become more
important.
5. Identify several management development methods.
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8–2
Employee Development
• Significant Developments
 More horizontal “ladders” in middle management
 More strategic focus on core competencies
 Careers as a series of projects, not upward steps in
an organization
 Career development now extends to all employees
 In “new career” era, the individual manages own
development, not the organization
 Employees who change jobs and employers
frequently are now the norm
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8–3
Careers and Career Planning
• Human Resource Capabilities
 Reliable access to the required people (quantity) with the skills,
abilities and attributes and competencies (quality) that the
organization needs to meet its purpose and deliver its outputs, in
accordance with its strategic goals.
• Career
 The series of work-related positions a person occupies through
life.
• Organization-Centred Career Planning
 Focuses on jobs and on identifying career paths that provide for
the logical progression of people between jobs in the
organization.
• Individual-Centred Career Planning
 Focuses on an individual’s career rather than on organizational
needs.
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8–4
Organizational and Individual
Career Planning Perspectives Fig. 8-1
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8–5
Individual-Centred Career Planning
Self-Assessment
Feedback on Reality
Career
Management
Setting Career Goals
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8–6
How People Choose Careers
Interests
Social
Background
Career
Choice
Self-Image
Personality
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8–7
General Career Periods
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
Fig. 8-2
8–8
Career Transitions and HR
Supervisors
Feedback
New Employee
Entry Shock
The Work
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
Time
8–9
Global Career Development
• Repatriation
 Planning, training, and reassignment of global
employees to their home countries.
• Development Issues
 Focusing on developing local managers as well as
global executives.
 Development areas typically include:
 Cultural issues, running a business, leading and
managing, handling problematic people, personal
qualities, self, and career.
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 10
Late Career/Retirement Issues
Need to
Belong
SelfManagement
Retirement
Adjustment
Pride in
Achievement
Goals
Territoriality
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 11
Proportion of the Employed Population Aged 55
and Over, by Industry, 2002 Fig. 8-3
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 12
Women and Careers
• In 2002, the overall participation rate of Canadian
women in the workforce reached a record-high of 60.7%
 “Sequencing”:

Women’s careers are often interrupted for child birth and
child rearing and later return to work with a job that allows
flexibility when they are older.
 Glass ceiling:

The situation in which women fail to progress into top
management positions.
 Employers can tap into the female labour market with
child care, flexible work policies, and a willingness to
be accommodating.
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 13
Aboriginal People and Careers
• McCormick and Amundson’s Career-Life
Planning Model for First Nations People
 Connectedness
 Balance
 Roles and responsibilities
 Gifts
 Values
 Inclusion of family and community members
 Counselor as facilitator
 Talking/healing circle format
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 14
Visible Minorities and Careers
• Lost Opportunities
 “Lack of fit” due to speaking with an accent
 Work credentials not taken seriously
• Taking Charge of Careers
 Using networking and mentoring opportunities inside
and outside the workplace
 Fostering a “can do” attitude
 Taking any job while applying for work more in line
with credentials
 Obtaining credentials from Canadian educational
institutions
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 15
People with Disabilities and Careers
Labour force participation is only 49%, making
underemployment a serious concern
Workplace barriers are physical and attitudinal
Accessibility continues to be problematic
Once employed, career development
programs can begin
Education, training and transition programs
need to become more flexible and accessible
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 16
Special Career Issues for
Organizations and Employees
• Career Plateaus
 Employees who are “stuck” at a career level and lack
opportunities for upward mobility.
• Technical and Professional Workers
 Dual-career ladders provide advancement pathways
for specialists and technical employees.
• Dual-Career Couples
 Problems occur when one partner is promoted or
transferred, causing the other partner to have to
relocate.
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 17
“Portable” Career Path
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
Fig. 8-4
8 – 18
Dual-Career Ladder for Engineers
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
Fig. 8-5
8 – 19
Global Transfers
• HR employee relocation assistance policies that
consider the concerns of dual-career couples:
 Paying employment agency fees for the relocating
partner
 Paying for a designated number of trips for the
partner to look for a job in the proposed new location
 Helping the partner find a job in the same company or
in another division or subsidiary of the company
 Developing computerized job banks to share with
other companies in the area that list partners
available for job openings
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 20
Developing Human Resources
• Development
 Efforts to improve employees’ ability to handle a
variety of complex assignments (knowledge work)
requiring judgment, responsibility, decision making,
and communication.
• Organizational Needs Analyses
 Future employee competencies
 Employee and managerial succession
 Retirements, promotions, transfers, departures
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 21
Development vs. Training
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
Fig. 8-6
8 – 22
HR Development
Process in an
Organization Fig. 8-7
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 23
The HR Development Process
Make or Buy?
Re-Development
HR
Development
Developing
Specific
Capabilities
Lifelong
Learning
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 24
Development Needs Analyses
• Assessment Centres
 A collection of instruments and exercises designed to
diagnose individuals’ development needs.

Intent is to identify management potential in participants.
• Psychological Testing
 Intelligence tests, verbal and mathematical reasoning
tests, and personality tests are often used.
 Interpretation of results is problematic.
• Performance Appraisals
 Serve as a source of development information.
 Results can be difficult to interpret.
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 25
Succession Planning
• Succession Planning
 The process of identifying a longer-term plan for the
orderly replacement of key employees.
• Succession in Small and Closely Held
Organizations
 Important in small and medium-sized firms,
but studies show that few of these
firms formalize succession plans.
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 26
Succession
Planning
Process Fig. 8-8
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 27
Choosing a Development Approach
Coaching
Learning
Organization
Corporate
Universities-Career
Development
Committee
Assignment
Job-Site
Methods
On-line
Development
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
Job
Rotation
“Assistant-to”
Positions
8 – 28
Possible Means for Developing Employees
in a Learning Organization Fig. 8-9
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 29
Choosing a Development Approach (cont’d)
Classroom Courses
and Degrees
Human Relations
Training
Off-Site
Methods
Simulations
(Business Games)
Outdoor Training
Sabbaticals and
Leaves of Absence
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 30
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Major Development Approaches Fig. 8-10
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 31
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Major Development Approaches (cont’d)
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 32
Management Lessons Learned from
Job Experience Fig. 8-11
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 33
Management Development Methods
Leadership
Development
Managerial
Modeling
Management
Coaching
Supervisory
Development
Management
Mentoring and the
Glass Ceiling
Management
Mentoring
Executive
Education
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 34
Stages in Management Mentoring Relationships
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
Fig. 8-12
8 – 35
Problems with Management
Development Efforts
• Inadequate HR planning and a lack of
coordination of HR development efforts.
 Failing to conduct adequate needs analysis, trying out
fad programs or training methods, and substituting
training for selecting qualified individuals.
• Encapsulated Development
 A situation in which an individual learns new methods
and ideas in a development course and returns to a
work unit that is still bound by old attitudes and
methods.
Copyright © 2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
8 – 36