HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES AND PRACTICES

Overview

In this lecture, we first discuss the concept of career, career planning and development. Next, we
distinguish between job security and career security. Then, we identify several factors that affect career
planning and discuss both individual and organizational career planning. We next address career paths
and discuss career development, then, career planning and development methods are described. We
devote the last part of the chapter to a discussion of developing unique segments of the workforce.
A. Career
Career can be defined as a general course of action a person chooses to pursue throughout his or her
working life
I. Career planning
Career planning is an ongoing process through which an individual sets career goals and identifies the
means to achieve them. The process by which individuals plan their life’s work is referred to as career
planning. Through career planning, a person evaluates his or her own abilities and interests, considers
alternative career opportunities, establishes career goals, and plans practical developmental activities.
Usually, career planning programs are expected to achieve one or more of the following objectives:
1. More effective development of available talent.
2. Self-appraisal opportunities for employees considering new or nontraditional career paths.
3. More efficient development of human resources within and among divisions and/or geographic
locations.
4. A demonstration of a tangible commitment to EEO and affirmative action.
5. Satisfaction of employees’ personal development needs.
6. Improvement of performance through on-the-job training experiences provided by horizontal
and vertical career moves.
7. Increased employee loyalty and motivation, leading to decreased turnover.
8. A method of determining training and development needs.
􀂃 Individual career planning—Career planning begins with self-understanding. Then,
the person is in a position to establish realistic goals and determine what to do to
achieve these goals. Learning about oneself is referred to as self-assessment. Some
useful tools include a strength/weakness balance sheet and a likes and dislikes survey.
1. Strength/weakness balance sheet: A self-evaluation procedure assists people
in becoming aware of their strengths and weaknesses.
2. Likes and dislikes survey: A procedure that assists individuals in recognizing
restrictions they place on themselves.
􀂃 Career Assessment On The Web—The Web has numerous tests and assessments sites
available to assist job seekers.
􀂃 Organizational Career Planning—The process of establishing career paths within a
firm.
II. Career Paths
Career paths have historically focused on upward mobility within a particular occupation. One of four
types of career paths may be used: traditional, network, lateral, and dual.

a. Traditional Career Path—An employee progresses vertically upward in the
organization from one specific job to the next.
b. Network Career Path—A method of career pathing that contains both a vertical
sequence of jobs and a series of horizontal opportunities.
c. Lateral Skill Path—Traditionally, a career path was viewed as moving upward to
higher levels of management in the organization. The availability of the previous two
options has diminished considerably in recent years. But this does not mean that an
individual has to remain in the same job for life. There are often lateral moves within
the firm that can be taken to allow an employee to become revitalized and find new
challenges.
d. Dual-Career Path— A career-path method, that recognizes that technical specialists
can and should be allowed to continue to contribute their expertise to a company
without having to become managers.
e. Adding Value To Retain Present Job—Regardless of the career path pursued, today’s
workers need to develop a plan whereby they are viewed as continually adding value to
the organization. If employees cannot add value, the company does not need them, and
much of the evolving work environments cannot use them either. Workers must
anticipate what tools will be needed for success in the future and obtain these skills.
These workers must look across company lines to other organizations to determine what
skills are transferable, and then go and get them. Essentially, today’s workers must
manage their own careers as never before.
f. Demotion—Demotions have long been associated with failure, but limited promotional
opportunities in the future and the fast pace of technological change may make them
more legitimate career options.

III. Career Development

A formal approach taken by an organization to help people acquire the skills and experiences needed to
perform current and future jobs is termed as career development. Company’s policies especially policies
regarding promotion, counseling the employees, opportunities to excel in future help employees to
develop their career. Consist of skills, education and experiences as well as behavioral modification and
refinement techniques that allow individuals to work better and add value.
Career development is an ongoing organized and formalized effort that recognizes people as a vital
organizational resource. It differs from training in that it has a wider focus, longer time frame, and
broader scope. The goal of training is improvement in performance; the goal of development is
enrichment and more capable workers.
Recently, career development has come to be seen as a means for meeting both organizational and
employee needs, as opposed to solely meeting the needs of the organization as it had done in the past.
Now, organizations see career development as a way of preventing job burnout, providing career
information to employees, improving the quality of work lives and meeting affirmative action goals.
That is, career development must be seen as a key business strategy if an organization wants to survive
in an increasingly competitive and global business environment.

IV. Career Planning and Development Methods

There are numerous methods for career planning and development. Some currently utilized methods,
most of which are used in various combinations, are discussed next.
a. Discussions with Knowledgeable Individuals—In a formal discussion, the superior
and subordinate may jointly agree on what type of career planning and development
activities are best. In other instances, psychologists and guidance counselors provide
this service. In an academic setting, colleges and universities often provide career