CAREER MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT – 1: THE TASKS AND STRATEGIES OF

DIFFERENT CAREER CYCLES

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The significance of understanding the career concept and

development on the part of both the managers and the em-
ployees has been gaining prominence. Global competition
and changes in economic conditions are causing many or-
ganisations of all sizes to restructure. Experts tend to
agree that self-management by all employees in an organi-
sation is the new human resources reality for the coming
years. These changes mean that organisations today must
be more aware than ever before of how best to utilise the
talents of employees at all levels of the company. Capa-
ble people must be available to fill the new, bigger, and
technologically more sophisticated jobs of the modern or-
ganisation. Moreover, the contemporary concern for devel-
oping the full potential of all employees through job op-
portunities that provide responsibility, advancement, and
challenging work reinforces such efforts. Even organisa-
tions facing a stable or a contracting future recognise
that a key to performance is the development of human re-
sources.

The environment in which an organisation survives under-

goes changes, causing a change to the organisation and
its employees. For example, a recently hired manager has
different needs and aspirations from a mid-career or pre-
retirement manager. All of us move through a fairly uni-
form pattern of phases during our careers. The different
phases produce different opportunities and stresses that
affect job performance. Effective managers comprehend
these implications and facilitate the efforts of employ-
ees who wish to confront and deal with their career and
life needs.

Development of career is the individual responsibilities

of managers and employees. Yet individual employees often
lack the ability and the information needed to develop
systematically their own career plans in ways that can
work to their benefit and to the benefit of the organisa-
tion – although there is a growing interest in providing
individuals with this kind of information.

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It is unwise to think that an adequate matching of indi-
vidual needs and abilities, preferences, motivation, and
organisational opportunities will just happen. Individu-
als, organisations, and experts in areas such as HRM all
must take responsibility for things they can control. Em-
ployees must have a clear picture of the opportunities
available now and anticipated in the future. organisa-
tions should not guess at or assume some set of career
needs. Likewise, employees should not have to guess how
career development occurs in the organisation. The dia-
gram below shows the linkage between organisational needs
with individual needs.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM: LINKING ORGANISATIONAL NEEDS WITH INDIVIDUAL NEEDS

ORGANISATIONAL NEEDS INDIVIDUAL NEEDS

What are the organisation’s major strategic How do I find career opportunities within
issues over the next two to three years? the organisation that will do the following?

What are the most critical needs ISSUES: Use my strength.

and challenges that the organisa- Are employees de- Address my developmental needs.
tion will face over the next two to veloping themselves Provide challenges.
three years? in a way that links Match my interests.
What critical skills, knowledge, and personal effective- Match my values.
experiences will be needed to meet ness and satisfaction Match my personal style.
these challenges? with the achievement
What staffing levels will be re- of the organisation’s
quired? strategic objectives?
Does the organisation have the
strength necessary to meet the
critical challenges?

Source: Ivancevich, John M. (2001), Human Resource Management (New York: McGraw-
Hill/Irwin).

Careers do not just happen in isolation from environ-

mental and personal factors. Every person’s career goes
through a series of stages. Each of these stages may or
may not be influenced by attitudes, motivation, the na-
ture of the task, economic conditions, and so forth.
Every employee must be sensitive to the career cycle and
the role that different influences can play at different
points.

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 2.0 THE CONCEPT OF CAREER

The concept of career has many meanings. The popular

meaning is probably reflected in the idea of moving up-
ward in one’s chosen line of work – making more money;
having more responsibility; and acquiring more status,
prestige, and power. Although typically restricted to
lines of work that involve gainful employment, the con-
cept of career can apply to other life pursuits.

A concise definition of a career that emphasises its im-

portance is offered by Greenhaus:

A career is the pattern of work-related experiences (e.g., job

positions, job duties, decisions, and subjective interpreta-
tions about work-related events) and activities over the span
of the person’s work life1.

This definition emphasises that the term career does not

imply success or failure except in the judgement of the
individual, that a career consists of both attitudes and
behaviour, and that it is an ongoing sequence of work-
related activities. Yet, even though the concept is
clearly work-related, it must be understood that a per-
son’s non-work life and roles play a significant part in
a career.

The values of society change over time, and, conse-

quently, how a person reacts to a career may be modified.
Today, a growing number of people who are in managerial
and professional careers seem less obsessed with advance-
ment, continual success, and a continually increasing
salary. Family needs and spending time off the job with
loved ones are becoming topics that individuals are dis-
cussing and considering more completely.

Although career is an individual responsibility, organi-

sation must discharge its responsibility to guide and
provide the individual with opportunities for development
of career. If career management is to be successful, the
individual and the organisation must assume an equal
share of responsibility for it. The individual must iden-
tify his or her aspirations and abilities and, through
counselling, recognise what training and development are
required for a particular career path. The organisation
must identify its needs and opportunities and, through
workforce planning, provide the necessary career informa-
tion and training to its employees.

1 Greenhaus, Callanan, and Godshalk 2000.

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 3.0 THE STAGES AND TASKS OF CAREER CYCLE

Most working people prepare for their occupation by un-

dergoing some form of organised education in high school,
trade school, vocational school, or college. They then
take a first job, but the chances are that they will move
to other jobs in the same organisation or in othewr or-
ganisations. Eventually, over the course of their career,
they settle into a position in which they remain until
retirement. The duration of each stage varies among indi-
viduals, but most working people go through all of these
stages.

Studies of career stages have found that needs and expec-

tations change as the individual moves through the
stages. The stages and tasks of the career cycle are
closely related to those of the biosocial cycle, because
both are linked to age and cultural norms (Shein 1978).
One of the most important differences between the career
cycle and the biosocial cycle is that everyone has a
life, but not everyone has a occupational career. The
stages, issues, and tasks of the career cycle are shown
in the table below. The emphasis is on those stages and
tasks which are particularly relevant to careers in the
organisations. People in professions or who are self-
employed will have some similarities, but also some dif-
ferences, in how the stages and the tasks play themselves
out.

Stages and Tasks of the Career Cycle

Stages Age Roles General Issues to be Con- Specific Tasks

fronted
1. Growth, 0-21 Students, 1. Developing a basis for 1. Develop and discover one’s
fantasy, explo- aspirants, making realistic vocational own needs and interests.
ration applicant choices.
2. Develop and discover one’s
2. Turning early occupational own abilities and talents.
fantasies into workable reali-
ties. 3. Find realistic role models
from which to learn about
3. Assessing the realistic occupations.
constraints based on socio-
economic level and other 4. Get maximum information
family circumstances. from testing and counselling.

4. Obtaining the appropriate 5. Locate reliable sources of

education or training.
5. Developing the basic hab-
its and skills needed in the
world of work.
information about occupations
and work roles.
6. Develop and discover one’s
own values, motives, and

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 Stages Age Roles General Issues to be Con-
fronted
2. Entry into 16-25 Recruit, en- 1. Entering the labour market
world of work trant - getting a first job, which can
be the basis of a career.
2. Negotiating a viable formal
and psychological contract to
ensure that own needs and
those of employer will be
met.
3. Becoming a member of an
organisation or occupation –
passage through first major
inclusion boundary.
3. Full mem- 25 Full member, 1. Choosing a speciality and
bership, mid- tenured deciding how committed to
career member, become to it vs. moving to-
lifew mem- ward being a generalist
ber, supervi- and/or toward management.
sor, manager
2. Remaining technically
competent and continuing to
learn in one’s chosen area of
specialisation (or manage-
ment).
3. Establishing a clear iden-
tity in the organisation, be-
coming visible.
4. Accepting higher levels of
responsibility, including that
for the work of others as well
as one’s own.
5. Becoming a productive
person in the occupation.
6. Developing one’s long-
range career plan in terms of
ambitions, type of progress
sought, targets against which
5
Specific Tasks
ambitions.
7. Make a sound educational
decisions.
8. Perform well enough in
school to keep career options
as wide open as possible
9. Find opportunities for self-
tests in sports, hobbies, and
school activities in order to
develop a realistic self-image.
1. Learn how to look for a job,
how to apply. How to negoti-
ate a job interview.
2. Learn how to assess infor-
mation about a job and an
organisation.
3. Pass selection and screen-
ing tests.
4. Make a realistic and valid
first-job choice.
1. Gain a measure of inde-
pendence.
2. Develop one’s own stan-
dards of performance and
confidence in one’s own deci-
sions.
3. Carefully assess own mo-
tives, talents, and values as
basis for decision of how spe-
cialised to become.
4. Carefully assess organisa-
tional and occupational oppor-
tunities as basis for making
valid decisions about next
steps.
5. Work through one’s rela-
tionships with mentors and
prepare to become a mentor
to others.
6. Achieve an appropriate
accommodation among family,
self, and work concerns.
 Stages Age Roles General Issues to be Con-
fronted
to measure progress, etc.
4. Mid-career 35-45 1. Major reassessment of
crisis one’s progress relative to
one’s ambitions forcing deci-
sions to level off, change
careers, or forge ahead to
new and higher challenges.
2. Assessing one’s career
ambitions against more gen-
eral aspects of mid-life transi-
tion – one’s dreams and
hopes vs. realities.
Specific Tasks
7. Deal with feelings of failure
if performance is poor, tenure
is denied, or challenge is lost.
1. Become aware of one’s
career anchor – one’s talents,
motives, and values.
2. Assess realistically the im-
plications for one’s future of
one’s career anchor.
3. Make specific choices about
accepting the present or work-
ing for whatever future is visu-
alised.

3. Deciding how important 4. Work out new accommoda-

work and one’s career are to tions with family around the
be in one’s total life. specific choices made.

4. Meeting one’s own needs 5. Work out mentoring rela-

to become a mentor to oth- tionships with others.
ers.
5A. Late career 40 to re- Key member, 1. Becoming a mentor, learn- 1. How to remain technically
in non- tirement individual ing to influence, guide, direct, competent or how to learn to
leadership role contributor or and be responsible for oth- substitute wisdom based on
member of ers. experience for immediate
management, technical skills.
good con- 2. Broadening of interests
tributor, or and skills based on experi- 2. How to develop interper-
deadwood. ence. sonal and group skills if
needed.
3. Deepening of skills if deci-
sion is to pursue a technical 3. How to develop supervisory
or functional career. and managerial skills if
needed.
4. Taking on more areas of
responsibility if decision is to 4. How to learn to make effec-
pursue general management tive decisions in a political
role. environment.

5. Assepting reduced influ- 5. How to deal with the com-

ence and challenge if deci-
sion is to level off and seek
growth outside of career or
work.
petitiveness and aggression of
younger persons “on the way
up”.
6. How to deal with mid-life
crisis and the empty-nest
problem at home.

7. How to interpret for senior

leadership roles.
5B. Late career May be General 1. Using one’s skills and 1. How to disengage from
in leadership achieved manager, talents for the long-range being primarily concerned with
role. at early office, senior self to becoming more re-
age, but partner, in- sponsible for organisational

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 Stages Age Roles General Issues to be Con- Specific Tasks
fronted
would still ternal entre- welfare of the organisation. welfare.
be thought preneur,
of as “late” senior staff 2. Learning to investigate the 2. How to handle secrets and
in career efforts of others and to influ- resources responsibly.
ence broadly rather than
making day-to-day decisions 3. Learn to handle high-level
or supervising closely. political situations both inside
and at the organisation / envi-
3. Selecting and developing ronment boundary.
key subordinates.
4. Learn how to balance con-
4. Developing broad perspec- tinued high commitment to
tive, long-range time hori- career with needs of family,
zons, and realistic appraisal especially spouse.
of the role of the organisation
in society. 5. Learn how to handle high
levels of responsibility and
5. Learning how to sell ideas power without becoming para-
if in individual contributor or lysed or emotionally upset.
internal entrepreneur role.
6. Decline and 40 until 1. Learning to accept re- 1. How to find new sources of
disengagement retirement; duced levels of power, re- satisfaction in hobbies, family,
different sponsibility, and centrality. social and community activi-
people ties, pert-time work, etc.
start de- 2. Learning to accept and
cline at develop new roles based on 2. Learn how to live more
different declining competence and closely with spouse.
ages motivation.
3. Assess total career and
3. Learning to manage a life prepare for retirement.
that is less dominated by
work.

Source: Shein, Edgar H. (1978), Career Dynamics: Matching Individual and Organisational
Needs (Philippines: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.).

4.0 CONCLUSIONS

The most effective way for analysing and discussing ca-

reers is to look at them as made up of stages. Each stage
has its own unique characteristics. An individual has
different plans, prospects, tasks, and strategies for
different stages. Although there are scope for overlap-
ping, it is expected that an individual has a clear de-
marcation of the tasks and strategies of these stages.
Understanding these stages and their associated charac-
teristics and tasks should be the first building block
for effective career persuasion. Therefore, it is impor-
tant for us to understand the implications of career
stages and tasks – as an employee or as a manager.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Resource Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pren-
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Human Resource Management. 301 Commerce Street,
Suite 3700, Fort Worth, TX 76102, Texas, USA: The
Harcourt Press, 2000.

Greenhaus, Jeffrey H., Gerard A. Callanan, and Veronica

M. Godshalk. Career Management. Chennai, India: All
India Publishers & Distributors, 1997.

Ivancevich, John M. Human Resource Management. Avenues of

Americas, New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2001.

Lesikar, Raymond V, and Marie E. Flatley. Basic Business

Communication. Avenues of Americas, New York:
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Shein, Edgar H. Career Dynamics: Matching Individual and

Organisational Needs. Philippines: Addison-Wesley
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