Topic

Introduction toCareer Planning

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to: 1. 2. 3. 4. Describe the key terms related to the process of career planning; Explain the processes involved in career planning; Discuss the major roles of career planning; and Summarise the six types of career path.

INTRODUCTION

Career planning is a continuous process in which an individual sets his career objectives and identifies the steps he should take to achieve them. It is a difficult process because nowadays, an average worker who graduates from an institution of learning will change jobs at least three times during his career. This is due to changes in technology, environment, economy, politics as well as the individual himself. Employees nowadays want a job that is challenging and different from other people. This is because when the individual is exposed to various tasks and responsibilities, he will acquire more skills, abilities and capabilities. This will expose the employees to a variety of different job environment and at the same time, gain valuable experience. When we were young, we were often asked what we would like to be when we grow up. The common answer would be a teacher, nurse, soldier or doctor. This is because when we were ten years old, we could not differentiate between the concept of adult and career. We would always give this answer because these were the people that we often came across and in our eyes, they have great careers. However, as we grew up, we became more curious about career. As teenagers, we would explore many things to find out what activity interests us the most. Then, we started to think of a career that is closest to the activity that we like.

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Thus, teenagers who like to draw are keen on taking up architecture or art as their career. Nevertheless, we have to realise that the working world of today is far different from that of yesterday. If our parents had only one job throughout their working lives, we, on the other hand, have to perform multitude tasks in different organisations during our 30-year career span. Things such as globalisation, technology and innovation are reasons for the changes in our job as well as in our career. These indirectly have caused retrenchment and downsizing which have made it almost impossible for the individual to remain in the same job in the same organisation. In view of the challenges of todays working world, this topic is thus important for us to examine and study. The focus of this topic is on the concept of career planning itself. Students will be exposed to what career planning is, its role from the perspective of the individual and the organisation and the different types of career path. Career planning is a process that involves the individual and covers activities such as self-appraisal and assessment of career opportunities. It is also an opportunity to improve ones self and help one to achieve the objectives and aspirations of his career. Career planning may be said to be an important activity for an organisation as well as for the individual. For the latter, it can help him realise his career objectives to be in line with the objectives of the organisation. For the organisation, it can reduce the turnover rate of workers, the cost of recruiting workers as well as help to develop its employees.

8.1

DEFINITION OF CAREER
ACTIVITY 8.1
Give the definition of career as you understand it.

Before we look at career planning in detail, we need to first understand the terminology of career itself.

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The Dewan Bahasa dictionary defines career as: Career is the journey or development in ones life that he has chosen as his field of work as a means of livelihood. It is also an activity that is done continuously to earn an income to support ones life. DeSimone, Werner and Harris define career as: Career is the pattern in the journey that is related to work during someones working life. Mondy and Noe, define career as: Career is a job that has been chosen to be accomplished during someones working life. A career is an action to determine the direction of ones work. An individual may change his career once or many times depending on various factors such as technological changes, interest, environment, marriage or his own desire for change. We may have met or heard of an engineer-turned-businessman or an accountant who has switched to teaching. Why did they switch careers? There are many reasons for this, including interest, skills, experience and opportunities. In general, a career is a sequence of related job designations held by someone until he retires, although not necessarily with the same organisation. For example, someone started work as a clerk in organisation A, then was promoted to chief clerk after working for five years in the same organisation. Ten years later, he moved to another organisation, B, and was made an administrative executive officer. What comes to your mind when you hear the word career? You might think that a career is the same as a job. Actually, these are two different concepts. A career refers to all the types of work that a person has held throughout his working life. Normally, an individual with a career will try to improve his knowledge, skills and capabilities in order to get a higher position in an organisation compared with an individual who has a job. At the organisation level, what the human resource manager does to help the employee achieve his career objectives is known as career development.

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To help students understand the full meaning of career, we will explain the terms related to it. There will be a detailed explanation of some of these terms in Topic 9 and 10. These terms are explained in Table 8.1.
Table 8.1: Terms Related to Career Terms Career Career Planning Definition Something that someone chooses to do throughout his working life. A continuous process done by an individual in defining his objectives and identifying the steps to meet these objectives. Inter-related sequence or network of jobs in an organisation. It refers to the levels of improvements in a job held by an employee. The things or values that an individual places priority on in his career. Besides support, great importance is placed on autonomy, independence, creativity and job assurance. Review of career planning and achievements. It is normally done annually, semi-annually or quarterly. It is also regarded as a company strategy in helping an individual understand why he is doing what he is doing, how to be accountable for his own career and how to identify the resources required to manage a career in an ever-changing environment. A programme that helps employee understands and learns about his capabilities, assets, limitations, interests and objectives. It also helps the employee identify his position in the organisation, internal and external opportunities as well as the training required to enable him to exploit his talents. In addition, it helps him develop his career planning, using the information on a particular career and identifying the organisations needs, development opportunities as well as his needs and interests. A process that assesses, coordinates and balances the needs, capabilities, opportunities and challenges of the organisation and individual. It also focuses on the individual who carries out and adapts himself to the various job roles. The programmes main interventions include conducting selfassessment and carrying out the development process that can influence both organisation and individual to formulate an optimistic match between the job and the individual.

Career Path

Career Anchors

Career Audit

Career Counselling

Career Development

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Career Mobility Career Plateau

Desire to make several changes in ones career instead of being committed to only one aspect of the career. A level in ones career where the prospects for job promotion no longer exist. This could be because the individual has reached the highest level in the same organisation or industry or because of age discrimination, downsizing, restructuring or lack of skills or motivation. Levels experienced by employee throughout his working life.

Career Stages

ACTIVITY 8.2
Discuss with your friends the meaning of job and career.

8.2

THE CONCEPT OF CAREER PLANNING

Career planning may help an individual explain his ideas. Having a career plan indicates that one has a clear picture of his future. According to Byars and Rue (2000) career planning means: Career planning a process in which an individual develops his career objectives and formulates a specific plan on how to achieve them. Lau and Pang, define career objectives as: Something that may exist in the short or long run. Long-term plans are between seven and ten years, while short-term plans are more current in nature and are between one and three years. Career planning is a process that determines career objectives as well as career path. It refers to the efforts made by an individual to realise the interests, abilities, values, opportunities, limitations, choices and consequences resulting from decisions made about his career. During this process, an individual identifies a career which suits his interests and formulates an appropriate plan in order to achieve his objectives. In this context, career planning is related to career management and development.

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Career planning is concerned with matching an individuals career aspirations with the opportunities offered by an organisation. It encompasses and identifies ways of getting the desired results based on the existing career path. It also helps the employee in his self-development in terms of his interests and skills. In addition, it may give greater job satisfaction because it helps the employee identify the job that matches his interests and plans. From the perspective of the organisation, it may save time in terms of staff recruitment, helps in the planning of staff replacement, identifies the capable employees, and helps the employee identify his objectives and self-development in order to reach his targets. Career planning also covers the process of assessing someones strengths and weaknesses and is related to career objectives. This process also identifies the necessary measures which one must take to achieve ones career objectives. Thus, from the explanations above, we may conclude that career planning is the relationship between an individuals efforts to manage his career and his efforts to develop his career. These efforts include: (a) (b) (c) Determining career objectives, i.e. what the employee wants in his career; Assessing ones strengths and weaknesses from many aspects such as skills, expertise and self potential; and Developing specific planning to reach the objectives by taking into account ones strengths and weaknesses.

There are three processes involved in career planning: (a) (b) (c) The individual knows himself, is aware of the opportunities and choices available to him and the consequences of his choices; The individual identifies the career objectives; and The individual goes through the work, educational and other experiences that can help him determine his target and what he should do in order to achieve his career objectives.

SELF-CHECK 8.1
Try to explain what you understand by career planning. Why does an employee need to plan his career?

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ACTIVITY 8.3
As a career person, what are your objectives for the next five and ten years? What do you plan to do to meet these objectives?

8.2.1

Organisations Career Planning

In your opinion, why should an organisations career planning be in line with that of its workers? An organisations career planning is a continuous process. It takes into account the changes that take place in an individual, organisation and the environment. Such flexibility is essential to a dynamic organisations environment. It is not only the organisations needs that change, but the individual, too, might change his career expectations. Although the responsibility for implementing his career plans lies on the individual, the organisations career planning has to be in line with that of the individual so that it can retain its best and most productive employees. Employees have to view the organisations career planning as an effort to help them achieve their career objectives as well as guarantee their jobs. The organisation should provide opportunities to its employees to further their education and perform various jobs because if they repeat the same tasks year in and year out, it will not do much for their self development. An organisations career planning has to start with defining how a job is done. Creativity, flexibility, innovation and adaptability are becoming more important than the ability to perform a particular task. An organisation would be able to develop the existing structure for future development through effective career planning. Thus, an organisation should implement its career planning when it can contribute towards realising its current and future objectives. The approach to and reasons for having the plans differ from one organisation to another. Career planning programmes could achieve one or more of the following objectives: (a) (b) (c) (d) Effective development for talented individuals. Opportunities for self-assessment which takes into consideration new or non-traditional career path. Career path development that is a cross-section between the department and its geographical location. Show of a clear commitment.

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(e) (f) (g) (h)

Satisfaction towards the development needs of specific individuals. Improved performance. Increase in loyalty among employees and a reduction in employee turnover. Methods of determining training and development needs.

Effective career planning depends on the organisations ability to satisfy those who it feels are important for employee development and the realisation of its objectives. We all have our own plans for what we want and ways of achieving them. We also have our own ways of doing what we want. If there is some planning, our methods will be clearer and indirectly, we would have a framework which would help us determine when and how we are going to reach our target. For a career individual, such a planning would help him/her assess whether he/she is able to get the post that he wants and when he would be able to get it. If he/she has made some planning, he/she would be able to improve his/her existing skills, expertise and capabilities. There are many paths open to him/her in order to do this, such as taking up certain courses, furthering his/her studies or getting a mentor. Career planning is a systematic process of examining and developing the objectives of human resources and methods of achieving them. Why then is career planning essential to an organisation? It is because with the process, it is able to formulate plans on promotion, staff training and also for the performance of employees who show the potential of being promoted.

8.3

THE ROLE OF CAREER PLANNING

The role of career planning can be seen from two perspectives, that of the individual and the organisation. For an organisation, its workers are an asset and a valuable property. Therefore, it has to take good care of the workers affairs and welfare to ensure their loyalty. Career planning provides mutual benefit to both the employees and organisation in that the former could develop their potential and capabilities while the latter could plan its manpower needs. You may refer to Figure 8.1.

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Figure 8.1: The role of career planning

(a)

Role of Individual When an individual plans his/her career, it is not just to help the organisation, but also to plan his/her future career. This is because his/her desires and needs are different from and sometimes not in line with the needs of the organisation. When he/she is making such plans, the paramount importance is his/her own continuous efforts. In fact, it is better that he/she makes the plans before he/she starts working, i.e. while he/she is still studying. This is so that his planning can be identified early on and can help him/her look for an organisation that best suits him/her. Among the steps he/she has to take are: (i) Identify Own Interests and Abilities This can be done by critically examining oneself and recognising ones abilities, interests and capabilities in a particular field. For example, if one is interested in painting and is good at it, has won in art competitions, then a suitable career would be an artist, architect or art teacher. Plan Own Objectives and Job This is useful as the objectives would generally be in line with those of the organisation. With such plan, an individual would strive to improve his skills, capabilities and knowledge, and these improvements would certainly enhance his/her opportunity for a promotion.

(ii)

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(iii) Assessing Career Path Inside and Outside the Organisation An individual should study the opportunities for self and career improvement in the organisation he/she is working for. If the opportunities do exist, then he/she should perform well in order to get a career boost. If, on the other hand, no such opportunity exists, then he/she has to look for another organisation which offers better career opportunities. (iv) Realising Changes in Interests and Objectives When Career and Conditions of Life Have Changed The environment has a tremendous influence on ones life. If an individual is experiencing changes in his/her interests in his/her job, then he ought to make other plans so as not to affect his/her career. For example, a clerical worker is more interested in business than performing his tasks as a clerk. He/she then has to reassess himself/herself and if he/she decides to leave, he/she should make preparations and plans to change his/her career. Studies have shown that an individual who plans his/her career is usually more successful and feels and reacts positively towards his/her career compared to someone who does not. (b) Role of Organisation An organisation does career planning to prove to the employees its seriousness, as well as its concern for the latters welfare and future. Career planning is an indication that it is interested in the employees future as well as acknowledging their contribution to the organisation. An organisation can provide various programmes, training and support to help employees plan their career besides providing space for them to develop their potential. One of the ways of helping employees is by providing experts to help, encourage and provide help to them in their career planning. Among the roles of an organisation in career planning are: (i) Preparing Programmes and Plans for Employees One of the programmes that can be carried out is a career seminar that discusses aspects that would help employees plan their career, selfassessment and career objectives. Setting up a Career Centre A database or an information centre can be set up to help employees search for information on their job and training related to their tasks.

(ii)

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(iii) Career Counselling Experts/career counsellors can be provided to help employees plan the future of their career. (iv) Career Path A framework on the employees future career path with the organisation is formulated with emphasis on the skills needed to improve their tasks and responsibilities, promotion opportunities and self potential. Organisations ought to do some monitoring to ensure that the manager and employees use the system created besides assessing its effectiveness. This is crucial to ensure that all the planning done by the organisation for its employees reach their objectives. Furthermore, it ought to have policies and information on the job so that employees can do some checking while planning their career. Unified support from senior management is also important to facilitate the career planning process.

ACTIVITY 8.4
Read the following situation and suggest the adjustments Ana should make regarding her problems and the actions she should take. You may share your thoughts with your friends. Ana is a clerk in an organisation in Kuala Lumpur. She is a STPM holder, she does not have any special skills other than the capability of managing her job. She has an attractive personality. She does not have any specific career planning although she wants to improve her economic status. Realising that she lacks academic qualifications, she registered for a management degree at a learning centre. Lectures are held after office hours and during weekends. In addition, she has taken the opportunity to apply for other posts advertised by the organisation she is working at although sometimes she does not have the skills and knowledge required for the post. She has failed to get the post several times; in fact, she was not even called for the interview. Then, she started to change and became depressed compared to her previous cheerful self. This has badly affected her job performance.

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8.4

CAREER PLANNING AND CAREER PATH

What is career path? It can be defined as a particular job sequence or network that is related to career opportunities in an organisation. It refers to the levels of advancements in a job held by an employee in his working life. DeSimone, Werner and Harris (2002) define career path as: DeSimone, Werner and Harris, career path a continuous process which involves the movement of individuals through several stages of life, with each stage having its own issues, themes and tasks. There are many types of paths which can be taken by an individual in his/her career. It is related to the advancements he/she experiences in his/her career. Normally, after working for a number of years, an employee would be promoted provided he/she has performed well. His/her seniority in a particular post would also be a factor. However, changes in time, technology and environment have changed all that. In general, career path may be seen as a job sequence or network related to the career opportunities of an employee. According to Mondy and Noe (2005), there are six types of career path, which are: (a) Traditional In this type of career path, an individual experiences vertical career advancement from one post to another. This means that an employee moves step by step from one post to another to gain knowledge and experience. For example, an employee starts off as an executive and after five years is promoted to senior executive, and three years later becomes the chief executive. As we can see, the career path takes an individual from a low rung of the ladder to a higher one. This type is seldom used now because it does not promote loyalty towards the organisation and is less appropriate for a working environment that requires new skills which can develop consistently. Network This type of career path is characterised by vertical career advancement and lateral career opportunities. It acknowledges internal transfers at a certain career level and requires one to gain experience at each level before being promoted. This type is more realistic in that it offers the employee the opportunity to develop his career compared to the traditional type. For example, an employee who has been working as an inventory manager for several years becomes a shift manager before being promoted. The drawback to this type is the difficulty in explaining to the staff the particular path they have to go through at the same job level.

(b)

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(c)

Lateral Skill Path Refers to lateral movement in the organisation. Employees are encouraged to find new challenges, but there is no promotion involved. Nevertheless, an organisation which practises this type of career path may still increase a workers value by encouraging him to learn various types of duties. Employees are given the opportunity to develop new skills, while organisations may acknowledge them based on the type and number of skills acquired. Organisations also need to make a particular job more challenging, more meaningful and create a great desire for achievement among their employees. Dual Career Path Refers to a method of acknowledging expert workers and technical professionals without them having to be transferred to management positions. This type of path is especially developed to solve the problem of technical workers who are not interested in holding a management post. Such employees are able to increase their knowledge in their specialised field, contribute to the organisation and are acknowledged. Studies have found that this type of path may be able to reduce the turnover rate of employees. It can save the organisation from incurring huge losses due to skilled workers leaving because they do not wish to hold a management post. Demotion Demotion is normally due to failure. It can also be due to limited opportunities for future promotion and technological changes. However, it may be a career opportunity someday, especially if there is a dead-end career path and it helps the senior employee to lessen the pressures at the workplace. Free Agent (Own Boss) Employee is his/her own boss or works for someone whose principles or objectives are in line with his/hers. Free agents may work full-time or parttime. They usually work hard to increase their skills, as the more qualified they are, the greater their job opportunities.

(d)

(e)

(f)

Based on the types of career path mentioned above, we can see that there are many ways for an individual to choose his/her career. Factors which may influence an individuals career path include interest, opportunities for selfimprovement, the organisation he works for and the working environment. If the career path in this organisation is not satisfactory, he/she may choose to work in another organisation where he/she can develop his/her own career. You may refer to Figure 8.2.

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Figure 8.2: Factors influencing ones career path

Career and career planning are two different concepts. While career refers to all types of jobs that a person holds in his/her working life, career planning, on the other hand, refers to a process which determines career objectives and career path. It is the efforts made by an individual in order to realise his/her interest, abilities, values, opportunities, limitations, choices and consequences obtained as a result of the decisions he/she makes in his/her career. Career planning is essential because it can help the organisation make plans on promotion, training of employees as well as the job performance of talented employees who have shown the potential to be promoted. Individuals and organisations have their own role to play in the process of career planning. Career path is essential in helping employees plan their career systematically. Nevertheless, there are many factors influencing ones career path, including interest, opportunities for self-improvement, organisation he/she works for and the working environment. All these factors will have an impact on an individuals career planning and career path.

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Career Career anchors Career audit Career counselling Career development Career mobility Career path

Career planning Career plateau Career stages Demotion Dual career path Lateral skill path

Essay Questions 1. 2. 3. Explain the differences between career and career planning. Briefly explain three types of career path in career planning. Explain three roles that an organisation should play in planning its employees career. Explain two reasons why career planning is important for an individual.

4.

TRUE (T) or FALSE (F) Statements 1. 2. 3. A career is important in ones life. Career planning helps an individual achieve his self objectives and potential. Career planning is a process in which an individual develops his career objectives and formulates a specific plan to achieve the objectives. Long-term planning is between one and three years.

4.

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5. 6.

Current employees need jobs which are more challenging. Career planning is a systematic process of studying and formulating the objectives of human resources and methods of achieving them. A career is someones choice of job in his lifetime. Career planning is a match between an individuals career aspirations and the opportunities offered by an organisation. Career planning evaluates ones physical appearance and relates it to the career objectives desired by that person. Employees may increase their potential and abilities, while the organisation may plan its manpower needs. An organisation has career planning for its employees to show that it is serious in taking care of the workers welfare and future. Studies have shown that an individual who plans his career is usually more successful than one who does not plan. When an individual plans his career, it will help him to plan his future from all aspects. Organisations should provide career counsellors to help employees look for jobs.

7. 8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

Multiple Choice Questions 1. Adib is holding the post of general manager at Omega Corporation. Before that she was a senior executive at the same firm. When Adib started working there 10 years ago, she was only a trainee executive. Which type of career path is Adib at? A. B. C. D. Network Traditional Free Agent Dual career

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2.

There are three processes in career planning. In the process where an individual knows himself, the focus is on _______________ . A. B. C. D. taking care of his own needs identifying his career objectives undergoing the apprenticeship phase being aware of the opportunities and choices available to him

3.

Which of the following is related to career management? A. B. C. D. Office management Career development Task expansion Job expansion

4.

Aishah has just completed her sixth form. She has just started working as a clerk and finds the job is not challenging. Deep inside her heart, Aishah desires to be a nurse. What steps should she take to plan her career? A. B. C. D. Identify her own interests and abilities Stop working Work as a clerk at other organisations Talk about the negative aspects of her present career

5.

The type of career path where an employee becomes his own boss is ___________ . A. B. C. D. demotion lateral free agent insurance agent