Answer to Question No: 1

The initial enthusiasm for career planning assistance is followed by an almost total avoidance by
employees due to some problems .These problems are explained below:

Though a special office of career counseling in the HR department was introduced by the
consultants in ABC pharmaceutical company, employees after sometime became disinterested in
counseling and career service .The reason is that, demands of middle and first line employees are
not matched with organizational needs.

Besides this, no effort is made to show, how the middle and first line employees can grow within
certain limits. What happens to an employee five years down the line if he does well? Whether
the organization is trying to offer mere jobs or long-lasting careers, etc? When recognition does
not come in time for meritorious performance and a certain amount of confusion prevails in the
minds of employees whether they are in with a chance to grow or not, they become dissatisfied
and their morale becomes low. Missing meetings, not responding to e mails, sickness and
arriving at work late are seen among these employees. This leads to declining of profit figures.
Thus, the organization suffers badly.

Answer to Question No: 2

My recommendations for career planning, assuming part of the problem was lack of support by
middle and first-line management, are given below:

1) Internal Recruitment

In order to develop a strong commitment among the middle and first line managers, organization
should use internal strategies. By offering promotional roles to internal candidates, employers
foster a sense of loyalty, engagement and long-term satisfaction. Internal recruiting typically
consists of one or more of the following approaches:

Job posting procedure.

Nomination by manager.
Knowledge, skills and abilities database.

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 Succession planning.

2) Volunteer to Complete Challenging Projects and Assignments.

One of the best ways to advance the career of middle and first line managers is to encourage
them to take part in challenging projects and assignments. In this case, active support of top
management is required. The employees must identify an organizational problem and propose a
solution. By offering to implement the solution, they will not only increase their visibility as a
problem-solver in the organization, but they might also expand their skills in the process.

3) Define Career Aspirations and Identify Goals

If middle and first line managers dont know where they want to go, how will they get there?
They should take time to clearly define their aspirations like where do they want to be in their
career in three years, five years, 10 years? Goals reflect what they want to accomplish to improve
themselves and to move forward in their career. Top management should ensure that, employees
are headed in the right direction and help them achieve their aspirations quickly and efficiently.

4) Share plan with top level managers

The middle and first line managers should share their plans with the top-level managers. Top-
level managers should ask him or her for feedback. They should learn specific skills like
computers, data analysis, statistics etc. and pursue education or obtain certifications.

5) Find out about training and tuition assistance

Top-level managers should find out about training and tuition. The middle and first line
managers should take advantage of every opportunity their company offers to help them advance
in their career. Questions that must be answered in this case are given below:

Are there company-sponsored training sessions, middle and first line managers could attend?
Does employer provide tuition reimbursement?

6) Provide regular updates

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The middle and first line managers should share their development progress with the top-level
manager and HR representative on a regular basis. Use these opportunities to discuss career
options and to get guidance and feedback.

7) Integration

Applying a twofold level of integration is necessary to achieve a fit and optimal utilization of
career practices. These levels are internal integration among the various practices and
external integration between the bundle of practices (that is, the career system) and the
organizational culture and strategy. Both internal and external integration should be driven by the
organizations strategy, because it determines major business decisions. For example, the
decision whether to go international or stay within national borders has implications for career
practices, because such a strategy necessitates policies and practices regarding expatriation and
repatriation.

Besides these, there are other recommendations like performing performance appraisal as a basis
for salary review and quality circles as a source for identification of management potential etc.