Managing Careers
Managing Careers
中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學
ANNOTATED OUTLINE |
I. Career Management
We may define career as the occupational positions a person has had over many years. Career management is a process for enabling employees to better understand and develop their career skills and interests, and to use these skills and interests more effectively. Career development is the lifelong series of activities that contribute to a person’s career exploration, establishment, success, and fulfillment. Career planning is the deliberate process through which someone becomes aware of personal skills, interests, knowledge, motivations, and other characteristics and establishes action plans to attain specific goals.
A. Careers Today ¾ Recessions, mergers, outsourcing, consolidations, and more or less endless downsizing have changed the ground rules. More often employees find themselves having to reinvent themselves.
B. Psychological Contract ¾ What the employer and employee expect of each other is part of what psychologists call a psychological contract. The psychological contract identifies each party's mutual expectations.
C. The Employee’s Role in Career Management ¾ An individual must accept responsibility for his/her own career; assess his/her own interests, skills, and values; and take the steps required to ensure a happy and fulfilling career.
1. Exercise 1 ¾ One useful exercise for identifying occupational skills is to write a short essay describing tasks that you are good at doing at school or work.
2. Exercise 2 ¾ Another exercise is to write about the job you would pick if you could have any job.
D. The Employer’s Role in Career Management ¾ Employers can support career development efforts in many ways. The means for helping to further an employee’s career depends on the length of time the employee has been with the firm. This may occur before hiring or on the job.
E. Employer Career Management Methods ¾ Career development systems needn’t be complicated. Just receiving performance feedback, having individual development plans, and having access to nontechnical skills training is enough for most employees, but a large portion of companies do not provide these services. Employers can provide career planning workshops, lifelong learning accounts, and career coaching.
F. Gender Issues in Career Development ¾ Women and men still face different challenges as they advance in their careers. Women have more difficulty getting developmental assignments and geographic mobility opportunities. Many call this combination of subtle and not-so-subtle barriers to women’s progress the glass ceiling. Organizations need to be aware of it and try to eliminate it.
G. The Manager’s Role in Employee Career Development ¾ The manager can do several things to support his or her subordinates’ career development needs: schedule regular performance appraisal, make expectations clear, and focus on the extent to which the employee’s current skills and performance match career aspirations.
H. Small Business Applications ¾ There is much a small business owner can do to facilitate employee career development. Small business owners should be more attuned to her or his employees’ strengths, weaknesses, and aspirations.
II. Improving Coaching Skills
Coaching means educating, instructing, and training subordinates. Mentoring means advising, counseling, and guiding. Coaching involves teaching shorter-term, job-related skills. Mentoring focuses on helping employees navigate longer-term career hazards.
A. How to Be an Effective Coach ¾ Coaching does not mean just telling someone what to do. Coaching is a four-step process: preparation, planning, active coaching, and follow-up.
B. Being a Better Mentor ¾ Mentoring may be formal or informal. Either form can be successful. Effective mentors set high standards, are willing to invest the time and effort required, and actively steer protégé’s.
1. The Protégé’s Responsibilities ¾ The protégé is still responsible for making the relationship work.
C. Improving Productivity through HRIS ¾ Integrating Talent Management and Career and Succession Planning ¾ Various software systems enable employers to integrate these important programs. HRIS programs can assist with 360 feedback, career development, compensation management, career progression, learning management, performance management, and recruiting and hiring.
III. Employee Engagement Guide for Managers
A. Career Management ¾ The globalization of the world economy has resulted in workplace efficiencies that often lead to downsizing and increased unemployment.
B. The New Psychological Contract ¾ Many employees today consider themselves free agents. Employers have to think through how they’re going to maintain employee engagement in the face of potential downsizings, and thereby minimize voluntary departures, and maximize employee effort.
C. Commitment-Oriented Career Development Efforts ¾ The employer’s career development process should send the signal that the employer cares about the employee’s career success, and thus deserves the employee’s engagement.
IV. Managing Employee Retention and Turnover
Turnover is an expensive cost for organizations. Understanding more about the costs and causes of turnover is crucial for companies.
A. Costs of Turnover ¾ There are tangible and intangible costs associated with turnover. Reducing turnover requires identifying and managing the reasons for both voluntary and involuntary turnover.
B. Managing Voluntary Turnover ¾ Voluntary turnover occurs for many reasons including job dissatisfaction, poor pay, a lack of promotional opportunities, work-life balance issues, and inadequate health-care benefits.
C. Retention Strategies for Reducing Voluntary Turnover ¾ Retaining employees is a talent management issue, and the best retention strategies are therefore multifunctional.
D. A Comprehensive Approach to Retaining Employees ¾ A retention program should start with periodically tracking why top performers leave. Employees leave for a variety reasons. Programs should address careers, professional development, pay, benefits, recognition, and other work practices.
E. Social Media and HR ¾ Social media tools have changed the engagement/retention process.
F. Job Withdrawal ¾ Withdrawal in general means separating oneself from one’s current situation.
1. Dealing with Job Withdrawal ¾ A manager can think of withdrawal-reducing strategies in terms of reducing the job’s negative effects and/or raising its positive effects.
V. Managing Promotions and Transfers
Promotions usually provide opportunities to reward the exceptional performance of tested and loyal employees. However, unfairness, arbitrariness, or secrecy can diminish the effectiveness of the promotion process for all concerned.
A. Decision 1: Is Seniority or Competence the Rule? Today’s focus on competitiveness favors competence. However, union agreements and civil service regulations often emphasize seniority.
B. Decision 2: How Should We Measure Competence? Define the job, set standards, use one or more appraisal tools to record the employee’s performance, and use a valid procedure for predicting a candidate’s potential for future performance. The 9-box assessment is an example of a tool.
C. Decision 3: Is the Process Formal or Informal? Each firm will determine whether the promotional process is formal or informal.
D. Decision 4: Vertical, Horizontal, or Other? Promotions can be vertical (within the same functional area) or horizontal (in different functional areas).
E. Diversity Counts – The Gender Gap ¾ Women still don’t reach the top of the career ladder in numbers proportionate to their numbers in U.S. industry. Employers need to eliminate the barriers that impede women’s career progress.
F. Managing Transfers ¾ Transfers are moves from one job to another, usually with no change in salary or grade. The frequent relocating of transfer employees has been assumed to have a damaging effect on the transferees’ family life.
G. Managing Retirements ¾ Retirement planning is no longer just for helping current employees transition to retirement. It can also enable the employer to retain, in some capacity, the skills of those who would normally retire and leave the firm.
1. Methods ¾ Employers should institute HR policies that encourage and support older workers.
VI. Managing Dismissals
Dismissal is the involuntary termination of an employee’s employment with the firm.
A. Termination at Will ¾ Termination at will means that without a contract, either the employer or the employee could terminate at will the employment relationship. Wrongful discharge refers to a dismissal that violates the law or that fails to comply with contractual arrangements stated or implied by the employer, for instance, in employee manuals. Exceptions include statutory exceptions, common law exceptions, and public policy exceptions.
B. Grounds for Dismissal ¾ There are four bases for dismissal. They include unsatisfactory performance, misconduct, lack of qualifications for the job, or changed requirements of the job. Insubordination is also often grounds for termination. Managers should take steps to make sure dismissals are fair.
C. Avoiding Wrongful Discharge Suits ¾ Wrongful discharge occurs when an employee’s dismissal does not comply with the law or with the contractual arrangement. Avoiding wrongful discharge suits requires a two-pronged approach. First, set up employment policies and dispute resolution procedures that make employees feel they are treated fairly.
D. Supervisory Liability ¾ Courts sometimes hold managers personally liable for their supervisory actions.
1. Steps to Take ¾ Managers should follow company policies.
2. Outplacement Counseling ¾ Outplacement counseling is a systematic process by which a terminated worker is trained and counseled in the techniques of conducting a self-appraisal and securing a new job appropriate to his or her needs and talents.
3. Exit Interview ¾ Many employers conduct exit interviews with information about the job or related matters that might give the employer a better insight into what is right—or wrong—about the company.
4. The Exit Process ¾ The employer should follow a checklist.
E. Layoffs and the Plant Closing Law ¾ The WARN Act requires employers of 100 or more employees to give 60 days notice before closing a facility or starting a layoff of 50 people or more. It simply gives employees time to seek other work or retraining by giving them advance notice of the shutdown.
1. The Layoff Process ¾ Companies should follow a process such as senior management making strategic decisions, followed by a supervisory process to make decisions and notify employees.
F. Adjusting to Downsizings and Mergers ¾ Downsizing means reducing, usually dramatically, the number of people the firm employs to better their financial position. Yet many firms discover operating earnings don’t rise after major cuts. Low morale among those remaining may be part of the problem. Some guidelines for implementing a reduction in force are provided.
KEY TERMS |
Career The occupational positions a person has had over many years.
Career management The process for enabling employees to better understand and develop their career skills and interests, and to use these skills and interests more effectively.
Career development The lifelong series of activities that contribute to a person’s career exploration, establishment, success, and fulfillment.
Career planning The deliberate process through which someone becomes aware of personal skills, interests, knowledge, motivations, and other characteristics and establishes action plans to attain specific goals.
Reality shock Results of a period that may occur at the initial career entry when the new employee’s high job expectations confront the reality of a boring, unchallenging job.
Coaching Educating, instructing, and training subordinates.
Mentoring Advising, counseling, and guiding.
9-box matrix In workforce planning, this displays three levels of current job performance (exceptional, fully performing, not yet fully performing) across the top, and also shows three levels of likely potential (eligible for promotion, room for growth in current position, not likely to grow beyond current position) down the side.
Transfer Reassignments to similar positions in other parts of the firm.
Dismissal Involuntary termination of an employee’s employment within the firm.
Terminate at will The idea, based on law, that the employment relationship can be terminated at will by either the employer or the employee for any reason.
Insubordination Willful disregard or disobedience of the boss’s authority or legitimate orders.
Wrongful discharge An employee dismissal that does not comply with the law or does not comply with the contractual arrangement stated or implied by the firm via its employment application forms, employee manuals, or other promises.
Termination interview The interview in which an employee is informed of the fact that he or she has been dismissed.
Outplacement counseling A systematic process by which a terminated person is trained and counseled in the techniques of self-appraisal, career management, networking, and securing a new position.
Exit interviews Interviews conducted by the employer immediately prior to the employee leaving the firm with the aim of better understanding what the employee thinks about the company.
Layoff A situation in which employees are told there is no work for them but that management intends to recall them when work is again available.
Downsizing Refers to the process of reducing, usually dramatically, the number of people employed by the firm.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS |
9-1. Why it is advisable for an employee retention effort to be comprehensive? To what extent does IBM’s on-demand program fit that description and why? Retaining quality employees is important to firm success because 1) great employees do great work, and 2) turnover is expensive. Student answers will vary, but IBM’s system is a comprehensive plan to increase retention.
9-2. Explain why employee engagement is important, and how to foster such engagement. What exactly would you as a supervisor do to increase your employee’s engagement? This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab. Student responses will vary.
9-3. What is the employee’s role in the career development process? The manager’s role? The employer’s role? Employees must understand that it is their role to take charge of their own career development. The manager should support the employee’s career development needs and schedule regular performance appraisals. The employer’s role depends on how long the employee has been with the organization, but it should include providing a process and a structure to develop employee careers.
9-4. List and discuss the four steps in effectively coaching an employee. How could (and would) a professional football coach apply these steps? This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab. Student responses will vary.
9-5. Discuss at least four procedural suggestions for managing dismissals effectively. First, realize there are statutory exceptions. Statutory exceptions include federal and state equal employment and workplace laws that prohibit certain dismissals. Second, many dismissals start with bad hiring decisions. Using assessment tests, reference and background checks, drug testing, and clearly defined jobs can reduce the need for dismissals. Third, either the employer or the employee can terminate the employment relationship at will. Three main protections against wrongful discharge eroded the termination-at-will doctrine—statutory exceptions, common law exceptions, and public policy exceptions. Fourth, terminated employees are less likely to sue if they believe you treated them fairly. Therefore, use practices (like those we listed in the chapter) that help ensure the fairness of the dismissal. Fifth, follow company policies and procedures. An employee may initiate a claim against a supervisor who he or she alleges did not follow policies and procedures. Sixth, administer the discipline in a manner that does not add to the employee’s emotional hardship (as would having them publicly collect their belongings and leave the office). Seventh, do not act in anger, since doing so undermines both the reality and the appearance of objectivity. Finally, utilize the HR department for advice in regarding how to handle difficult disciplinary matters.
9-6. Is it advantageous to take a talent management approach to managing employee retention? Why or why not? Yes, it is highly advantageous for a firm to use an organized and disciplined approach to manage talent. Talent management is the goal-oriented and integrated process of planning, recruiting, developing, appraising, and compensating employees. Several practices distinguish talent management. These include using the same profile or list of skills and competencies for recruiting someone for the job as for selecting, training, appraising, and compensating that person, as well as actively managing how employees are recruited, selected, trained, appraised, and paid. Organizations that use such an approach, aligning strategy to performance, produce improved results. Additionally, such firms will tend to attract more top talent in the recruiting process than their competitors.
9-7. What would you as a supervisor do to avoid someone accusing you of wrongful dismissal? Protecting against wrongful discharge suits requires two things: following procedural steps, and fairness safeguards. First, lay the groundwork to help avoid such suits. Procedural steps include: have applicants sign the employment application; review your employee manual to delete statements that could undermine your defense; have written rules listing infractions; if a rule is broken, get the worker’s side of the story in front of witnesses; be sure that employees get a written appraisal at least annually; keep careful confidential records; and finally, ask the questions listed in Figure 9.6.
INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP ACTIVITIES |
9-8. Many rightfully offer IBM as an example of an employer that works hard to improve employee retention and engagement. Browse through the employment pages of IBM.com’s Web site (such as http://www-03.ibm.com/employment/build_your_career.html). In this chapter, we discussed actions employers can take to improve employee retention and engagement. From the information on IBM’s Web pages, what is IBM doing to support retention and engagement? Look for students to integrate the principles in this chapter in their analysis and suggestions.
9-9. In groups of four or five students, meet with one or two administrators and faculty members in your college or university, and, based on this, write a two-page paper on the topic, “The faculty promotion process at our college.” What do you think of the process? Could you make any suggestions for improving it? Look for students to integrate the principles in this chapter in their analysis and suggestions.
9-10. Working individually or in groups, choose two occupations (such as management consultant, HR manager, or salesperson) and use some of the sources such as O*NET to make an assessment of the future demand for this occupation in the next 10 years or so. Does this seem like a good occupation to pursue? Why or why not? Students should be able to support their conclusions with data and information from these sources.
9-11. In groups of four or five students, interview a small business owner or an HR manager with the aim of writing a two-page paper addressing the topic “Steps our company is taking to reduce voluntary employee turnover.” What is this employer’s turnover rate now? How would you suggest it improve its turnover rate? Look for students to integrate the principles in this chapter in their analysis and suggestions.
9-12. The PHR and SPHR Knowledge Base appendix at the end of this book (pp. 483–491) lists the knowledge someone studying for the HRCI certification exam needs to have in each area of human resource management (such as in Strategic Management, Workforce Planning, and Human Resource Development). In groups of four to five students, do four things: (1) review that appendix now; (2) identify the material in this chapter that relates to the required knowledge the appendix lists; (3) write four multiple-choice exam questions on this material that you believe would be suitable for inclusion in the HRCI exam; and (4) if time permits, have someone from your team post your team’s questions in front of the class, so the students in other teams can take each others’ exam questions. Material that would be relevant to the exam includes the sections on career development programs, career records/job posting systems, managing fair treatment, grounds for dismissal, avoiding wrongful discharge suits, termination interviews, layoffs and the plant closing law, and retirement.
9-13. Several years ago, a survey of college graduates in the United Kingdom found that although many hadn’t found their first jobs, most were already planning “career breaks” and to keep up their hobbies and interests outside work. As one report of the findings put it, “the next generation of workers is determined not to wind up on the hamster wheel of long hours with no play.” Part of the problem seems to be that many already see their friends “putting in more than 48 hours a week” at work. Career experts reviewing the results concluded that many of these recent college grads “are not looking for high-pay, high-profile jobs anymore.” Instead they seem to be looking to “compartmentalize” their lives; to keep the number of hours they spend at work down, so that they can maintain their hobbies and outside interests. So, do you think these findings are as popular in the United States as they appear to be in the United Kingdom? If so, if you were mentoring one of these people at work, what three specific bits of career advice would you give to him or her? Why? What (if anything) would you suggest their employers do to accommodate there graduates’ stated career wishes? The advice needs to be relevant to the issues surrounding the blending of this world view with the political realities of the workforce.
9-14. Web sites such as Sporting News (http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2009-07-29/sporting-news-50-greatest-coaches-all-time) ran a story listing what they called the fifty greatest basketball coaches. Look at this list, and pick out two of the names. Then research these people online to determine what behaviors they exhibited that seem to account for why they were great coaches. How do these behaviors compare with what this chapter had to say about effective coaching? Student conclusions should accurately reflect the concepts in this chapter on coaching.
Students can find the following assisted-graded writing questions at mymanagementlab.com:
9-15. Why is it important to manage employee dismissals properly?
9-16. What are the main decisions employers should address in reaching promotion decisions?
APPLICATION EXERCISES |
HR in Action Case Incident 1: Google Reacts
9-17. Without doing any further research than what you learned in this chapter, what other steps would you suggest Google take to improve employee retention? Student answers will vary and the major points should include retention strategies, how to foster engagement, career management, improving coaching skills, and making promotion decisions.
9-18. Was there any information in previous chapters of this book that would help to illustrate other steps Google took to improve retention? Look for students to pull information from previous chapters (e.g. the selection chapter).
9-19. Use other Internet sources, including Google.com, to finalize an answer to the question. What other steps should Google take to improve employee retention? Student answers will vary depending on the Web sites they use.
HR in Action Case Incident 2: Carter Cleaning Company: The Career Planning Program
9-20. What would be the advantages to Carter Cleaning Company of setting up such a career planning program? Some examples of the advantages of setting up a career planning program for employees include increasing job satisfaction, helping employees navigate through the company, and helping employees think about and plan their careers.
9-21. Who should participate in the program, and why? All employees? Selected employees? Students should justify why they think certain employees should or should not participate in the program.
9-22. Outline and describe the program you would propose for the cleaners, pressers, counter people, and managers at the Carter Cleaning Company. Based on the career planning activities discussed in the chapter, students should design a tailored career planning and development program for the employees.
Experiential Exercise: Where Am I Going….. and Why?
Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to provide you with experience in analyzing your career preferences.
Required Understanding: Students should be thoroughly familiar with the section “The Employee’s Role in Career Management” in this chapter, as well as using O*Net (which we discussed in Chapter 4), and this chapter’s appendix.
How to Set Up the Exercise/Instruction: Using O*Net and our section titled “The Employee’s Role in Career Management,” and this chapter’s appendix, analyze your career-related inclinations (you can also take the self-directed search for about $10 at www.self-directedsearch.com). Based on this analysis, answer the following questions (if you wish, you may do this analysis in teams of three or four students).
9-23. What does your research suggest to you about what would be your preferable occupational options?
9-24. What are the prospects for these occupations?
9-25. Given these prospects and your own occupational inclinations, outline a brief, one-page career plan for yourself, including current occupational inclinations, career goals, and an action plan listing four or five development steps you will need to take in order to get from where you are now career-wise to where you want to be, based on your career goals.
This exercise asks students to analyze their careers. They have to determine their career interests, examine the prospects of that career, and write a one-page career plan. If they have a resume (or can prepare a simple one) they should be encouraged to use it in this exercise. Further, there are supporting documents (e.g., MBTI, 16PF, etc.) that can help them determine their career interests. Finally, O*NET has extensive descriptions of jobs on their Web site, www.onetonline.org.
WEB-e’s (WEB EXERCISES) |
1. Recently, several top managers including one from IBM and a consultant for McKinsey & Co. became embroiled in an alleged insider trading scandal. Based on sites such as http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/rajaratnams-llegedinsider-trading-scheme-big-thought/story?id=9502787, do you think these allegations are fair, and if so, what seems to have prompted these people to have become involved? From the information that was supplied on the Web site, the allegations do appear to be fair. It does appear that the individuals involved did engage in activities that warranted further investigation and scrutiny.
2. Web sites such as http://www.bankersacademy.com/codeofconduct.php describe ethics training programs. What points from this chapter does this particular ethics training program cover, and is it one you would recommend to your employer? Why or why not? The program addresses the basics of organizational ethics. This type of program would be recommended to most organizations. It appears to cover all the aspects of organizational ethics in a format that most employees would easily understand.
3. In politics, ethics problems are certainly not unique to Democrats or Republicans. Use sites such as www.newsweek.com/id/216687 to list five recent ethics violations allegations made against Democrats and Republicans. Student responses will vary but should include allegations of corruption, kickbacks, misappropriations of taxpayer funds, misuse of campaign funds, and inappropriate lobbying.
ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS |
1. Ask students to calculate the cost of turnover for an entry-level job. Students will understand the importance of retention initiatives if they know how much turnover can cost a company. Utilize an online turnover calculator, or a worksheet such as one developed by the Society for Human Resource Management (http://www.shrm.org/templatestools/samples/hrforms/articles/pages/1cms_011163.aspx) to allow students to estimate the cost of turnover for a minimum wage job.
2. Ask students to compare and contrast coaching and mentoring. Coaching is focused on more short-term guidance to help an employee do his or her job. Mentoring is focused more on long-term development of an employee. Students should be able to identify coaches and mentors they have had at jobs or in life. Discuss the importance of seeking mentors for students’ long-term career success. You can also explore formal mentoring programs that an employer can establish.
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