Items Description of Module

Subject Name Management

Paper Name Human Resource Management
Module Title Career Planning
Module ID Module 22
Pre-Requisites Understanding the nature of Career Planning
Objectives To study the Features, Objectives, Process of Career Planning
Keywords Career Planning, Career Path, Counseling, Self assessment
 QUADRANT –I

1. Module 22: Career Planning

2. Learning Outcome
3. Career Planning
4. Features of Career Planning
5. Objectives of Career Planning
6. Process of Career Planning
7. Responsibility for Career Planning
8. Limitations of Career Planning
9. Stages of Career planning
Summary

1. Module 22: Career Planning

2. Learning outcome
After studying this module, you shall be able to
 Know the concept of Career planning
 Understand the features of career planning
 Comprehend the objectives of career planning
 Understand the process of career planning
 Become aware of the responsibility of career planning
 Know the limitation of career planning
 Understand the limitations of career planning

3. Introduction
An individual’s career signifies the positions held by him throughout his work life. An
evaluation of a career would show the extent to which one has accomplished the specific
career goals in life. A career can be viewed from two perspectives: objective and
subjective. An objective perspective of career deals with the past positions held by an
individual. In contrast, a subjective perspective looks at the career of an individual from
the perspective of the future positions he is likely to hold. However, the basic
assumption in any career perspective is that individuals exercise some sort of control
over their future and can ensure optimum utilization of the available opportunities.
Organizations are expected to support employees in accomplishing their career and life
goals through career planning activities. Career planning is the collective responsibility of
the organization and the concerned individual. The process of evaluation of the different
aspects of an employee like work performance and efficiency self-worth, personality,
lifestyle and career goals forms the major part of career planning. The main aim of
career planning is to help employees achieve career progression within the organization.
In a changing labor market environment with increasing demand for skilled labor,
organizations are increasingly viewing career planning as a viable option to attract and
retain an efficient workforce. When the employees are aware of the future plan of their
organization for them, they may be more interested in continuing in the same
organization. Moreover, those firms that actively involve their employees in career
planning usually enjoy better patronage from them. Thus career planning is an important
technique for achieving better employee retention and cooperation. However, career
planning is not a one-time activity for an organization. Rather, it is a continuing process
 of assessing the employees’ performance and potential and throughout their career
fulfilling their requirements on a regular basis.
The essence of career planning is the attainment of the employees’ career and personal
goals.
Thus, career planning is defined as the process of identifying and accomplishing the
employee’s career objectives through a systematic way of skill identification, assessment
and development. A career is a sequence of jobs that a person does for a living.

4. Distinction between Career Planning and Human Resource Planning

Human Resource planning involves the analysis and estimate for the need and
availability of employees. With the help of Human Resource planning, the managers
prepare a summary of skills and potentials available within the organization. Career
planning assists in finding those employees who could be developed for higher level
positions.
Human Resource planning provides useful information for the availability of human
resources for expansion, growth etc., On the other hand, career planning only gives us a
picture of who could succeed in case of separation of existing employees.
Human Resource planning is integrated to the overall strategic planning of the
organization. There cannot be an effective manpower planning, if career planning is not
carried out properly.

5. Features of Career Planning

Career planning has the following main features.
 Career planning of the employee is supplemented by the organization.
 It is continuous and for long term, where goals of the individuals are harmonized
with the goals of the organization.
 The objective of career planning is to ensure not only succession in the
organization but also to ensure that the skills of all the employees are utilized to
the optimum extent.
 Career planning is time consuming and needs lot of foresight and imagination.
 The goals, aptitude and the capacity of the individual are kept in mind before
planning the career.
 The organization tries to create an environment that facilitate employees plan
their careers properly.

6. Need for Career Planning

Every employee desires to grow and achieve new heights in his workplace continuously.
If adequate opportunities are available, he can pursue his career goals and exploit his
potential fully. He experiences highly motivated if the organization shows him a clear
path as to how he accomplish his personal ambitions while trying to realize
organizational goals. Unfortunately, organizations do not pay adequate attention to this
issue in reality for different reasons. There is no match between the demands of
employees with needs of the organization; attempts are not made to indicate how the
employees can grow within restrictions, what occurs to an employee if he does well for a
period of five years, whether the organization is trying to offer mere jobs or long-lasting
careers, etc. When meritorious performance is not timely recognized and confusion
prevails in the minds of employees about their chance to grow, they look for better
 opportunities outside. Key executives get frustrated and leave the organization. The
organization suffers badly when turnover increases. The recruitment drive in hurry to fill
the vacancies is not going to be result-oriented. So the absence of a career plan is going
to make a big difference to both the employees and the organization. Employees d not
get right breaks at a right time; their morale will be low and they are always on their toes
to find escape routes.
High employee turnover is not going to benefit the organizations. New employees
involve more selection and training costs. Filling the gaps, with short term replacements
will not benefit in terms of productivity. Organizations, therefore, attempt to design their
career plans and inform the employees of the existing opportunities internally for
talented people. Without such a progressive outlook organizations cannot prosper.

7. Objectives of Career Planning

The basic objective of career planning at the individual level of an employee is to
establish their career goals achieve success by taking advantage of the available
opportunities. The individual employees attempt to accomplish career success by using
relevant skills and knowledge. At the organizational level, the enterprise finds it as an
opportunity to exhibit its interest in and commitment to the well-being and growth of the
employees. At the same time, the organization also seeks to achieve optimum employee
efficiency and loyalty. The main responsibility for career planning rests with the
employees, however the supervisors, the line managers as well as the HR department
have a collective responsibility for designing and developing realistic career plans.
Through career planning the employees not only develop their career goals but also identify the
ways to achieve these goals.
 It helps individuals to remain competitive in the labor market by constantly
upgrading competences as part of goal fulfillment efforts.
 It acts as the basis or standard for tracing the career progression an
employee achieves during his career.
 It construct the base for succession planning in the organization. It helps the
organization in its preparation for the future by identifying and developing
employees to occupy critical positions.
 An organization is able to attract and retain its best people for a longer period
of time.
Career planning is viewed as an effective technique by the organization to limit the
labor turnover and achieve better employee efficiency and commitment.
It provides an opportunity for the organization to assess its strengths and weaknesses
and also identify the area of development of the employees.
It forms the basis for determining the training and development requirements of each
employee in the organization.
8. Process of Career Planning
The career planning process involves the following steps. These steps are shown in
Fig.1.

8.1 Identifying individual needs and aspirations

Most individuals do not have a clear cut idea about their career aspirations anchors and
goals. The human resource professionals must assistance employee by making
available information indicating what kind of job would match the employee most,
considering his skills, experience, and aptitude. Workshops/seminars are conducted to
provide such assistance while the employees are subjected to psychological testing,
simulation exercises, etc. The basic purpose of such an exercise is to help an employee
make a concrete view about what he should do to build his career within the company.
Workshops and seminars increase employee interest by showing the value of career
planning. They help employees establish career goals, identify career paths and reveal
particular career development activities. These individual efforts may be supplemented
by printed or taped information. Organizations prepare a data bank of information on the
career records, skill assessments and career preferences of its employees to assist
employees in a better way

8.2 Analyzing career opportunities

At this stage the organization provides career paths for each position. Career paths
show career progression possibilities clearly. They indicate the various positions that
one could hold over a period time, if one is able to perform well. Career paths change
over time, of course, in tune with employee’s needs and organizational requirements.
While outlining career path is, the claims of experience persons lacking professional
degrees and that of young recruits with excellent degrees but without experience need to
be balanced properly.

8.3 Align opportunities with needs

Once the employees have discovered their needs and have perceived career
opportunities, the alignment between the two is the remaining issue. This process
consists of two stages: first, assess the potential of employees and then design career
development programs in order to align organizational opportunities with employee
needs. The performance appraisal can also help in the assessment of the potential of
employees to some extent. Such an appraisal would help reveal employees requiring
more training, those willing to take up more responsibilities, etc. Once the potential of
employees is evaluated, developmental techniques such as assignments, position
rotation, supervisory coaching, job enrichment, and understudy programs can be
undertaken to update employee knowledge and skills.
8.4 Action plans and periodic review
The matching process would uncover gaps needed to be filled with individual career
development attempts and organization supported efforts on a continuous basis. After
initiating these steps, it is imperative to review the entire thing from time to time. This will
enable the employee to know the direction in which he is moving, what changes are
likely to take place, what kind of skills are required to encounter emerging organizational
challenges. It is essential to find out how employees are performing, what are their goals
and aspiration, whether the career paths are in tune with individual needs and serve the
overall corporate objectives.

9. Responsibility for Career Planning

Though career planning is basically the responsibility of the individual, the organization
has a duty in the development of the career of its employees. An organization normally
nominates the manager or the supervisor to assist its employees in career planning
activities. Sometimes, it may seek the assistance of outside experts for giving career
guidance to its employees. Fig.3 exhibits the people responsible for career planning in
an organization.

9.1 Individual Employee

The ultimate beneficiary of any career planning program is the individual employee for
whom the career plans are really made. It is, therefore, necessary to involve the
employees in the program. Self-assessment is the method adopted by the employees to
identify their strengths and weakness as part of career planning. The organizations
commonly help the employees in self-assessment exercises through workshops, group’s
exercises and other counseling sessions. Computer-aided guidance systems are also
being used to facilitate their self-assessment activities.

9.2 Managers and Supervisors

 Managers and supervisors play a crucial role in the career planning of their
subordinates. Generally, managers are assigned to employees to help them in career
planning. Employees have detailed discussions with these managers before finalizing
their career plans. The managers offer guidance, counseling and other support to the
employees with their expertise and efficiency. They also provide performance feedback
to the employees.

9.3 Mentors
In certain cases, an organization may appoint mentors to assist the employees in career
guidance. Usually, people with relevant expertise are appointed as mentors to give
helpful advice to the employees in their career planning. They may be from within or
outside the organization. For instance, the managers, supervisors or any other
knowledgeable member of the organization may act as a mentor for the employees.
Alternatively, the organization may also seek the services of external of external experts
to act as mentors for its employees. The relationship between the mentor and the
employee may be formal or informal.

9.4 Organization
An organization, through its HR department, may direct engage the employees in their
career planning activities. It may establish training and development centers to educate
them about the means and styles of career planning. It may also acquaint the employees
with self- assessment procedure. These development centers can also provide feedback
to the employees based on their performance in a simulated work performance. The
organization can also share information with its employees about the managerial
philosophy mission and policies for helping them understand the career opportunities
available there. It may also provide them specific career information and career path
details.

10. Benefits of Career Planning

The employee has advance knowledge of career opportunities within the company. He
knows his position, his destination and, who is ahead of him, how to scale the corporate
ladder. This helps him set his career goals more realistically and take appropriate steps
to realize them.
Organizations can base their decisions more systematically. Fast tracks for stars could
be arranged, training to slow movers be provided, replacements be planned in advance,
attractive career options and compensation plans be offered to hard-working talented
people in order to retain them; job assignments can be made based on merit etc.
Relations between the employer and the employees would become more cordial,
employee skills could be used properly, valued employees could be retained, and there
will be an expanded image of the company as a people developer.

11. Effective Career Planning

Effective career planning requires certain steps to be taken:
11.1 Support:
Career planning efforts must receive consistent support and continued blessings from
the top management.
11.2 Goals:
 It is imperative that the clear corporate goals are laid down. It is possible lay down
appropriate goals for human resources if we are sure about the journey of next 5 or 10
years.
11.3 Reward performance:
Employees must be willing to expand their abilities and trainers to coach, counsel and
share their knowledge with employees. Appropriate rewards for people are designed.
11.4 Placement
Every effort must be made to put employees on jobs that are in tune with their
capabilities. If a talented employee is put on a routine job, he will quit in frustration.
11.5 Career paths:
Clear career paths for various types of employees are laid down. Talented people get
fast track promotions, seniors used on jobs requiring experience and judgment, juniors
used for jobs that demand routine application of rules and procedures, etc.
11.6 Continuous tracking:
Career planning efforts should be carried out on a continuing basis considering the
changing needs of employees as well as the organization. A periodic assessment of who
has gone where should be made.
Publicity:
Everyone should be aware of the career opportunities within the organization.

12. Career Stages

Careers can be analyzed based on the career stages. There are five career stages
through which most of us have gone through or will go through. These stages include:
exploration, establishment, and mid-career, later career and decline. These stages are
depicted in Fig.3.
12.1 Exploration
Exploration is a career stage that ends in one’s mid twenties as one makes the transition
from college to work. This stage has the least relevance from the organizational point of
view as it happens prior to employment.

12.2 Establishment
It is a career stage in which one begins to search for work. It includes getting one’s first
job. It takes many years to search for a right job. The problems of this stage include
making mistakes, learning from those mistakes and assuming increased responsibilities.

12.3 Mid-career stage

This stage is marked by a continuous improvement in performance, leveling off in
performance or the start of deterioration in performance. Continuing productive at work
at this stage is a major challenge of career planning. Certain persons accomplish their
goals early and achieve even higher goals. These employees are ‘climbers’.
Maintenance is another possible outcome. These employees are technically competent
and no longer as ambitious as the climbers.

12.4 Late Career

In this stage one is no longer learning about his or her job and also not expected to
attempt to outperform his levels of performance from previous years. This stage is
commonly a pleasant stage where the employee enjoys playing the role of elder
statesperson. The employee can res on his praise and achieve the respect of younger
employees.
Summary
 Career planning is the collective responsibility of the organization and the
concerned individual. Career planning is an important technique for achieving
better employee retention and cooperation. Career planning is defined as the
process of identifying and accomplishing the employee’s career objectives
through a systematic way of skill identification, assessment and development.
 Human Resource planning is tied to the overall strategic planning efforts of the
organization. There cannot be an effective manpower planning, if career planning
is not carried out properly. Every employee desires to grow and achieve new
heights in his workplace continuously. If adequate opportunities are available, he
can pursue his career goals and exploit his potential fully. The primary purpose of
career planning by the employees is to develop their career goals strategically
and then achieve success by utilizing the available opportunities. The career
planning process involves the steps of identifying individual needs and
aspirations, analyzing career opportunities, aligning needs and opportunities and
actions and periodic review.
 Though career planning is basically the responsibility of the individual, the
organization has a duty in the development of the career of its employees.
 Effective career planning requires certain steps to be taken: These steps include
support, goals, reward performance, placement, career paths, continuous
tracking and
 Careers can be analyzed based on the career stages. There are five career
stages through which most of us have gone through or will go through. These
stages include: exploration, establishment, and mid-career, later career and
decline.