Concept of Career Planning; Career is viewed as a bunch or collection of jobs or positions. Generally, it describes an applicable career path within the structure of the organization. It shows the principal personnel development paths within the organization. The etymology of the term derived from the Latin word career, which means race. All the jobs, that are held together during one’s working life, constitute the career. It is also viewed as the sequence of positions held by an individual during his employment life. Edwin B. Flippo defined a career, as a sequence of separate but related work activities that provide continuity, order, and meaning in a person’s life.
The Concept of Career Planning: Definition, Objectives, Process, and Benefits.
A career may be viewed as the amalgamation of the changes in values, attitudes, and motivation an individual embraces, as he or she grows older. This constitutes a subjective element of the concept “career”.
Concept And Meaning Of Career planning:
Career planning is a process by which one selects career goals and the path to those goals. It involves a clear selection of career goals and career paths.
- Career goals: Career goals are the desired future positions an employee strives to reach as a part of the career.
- Career path: Career path is the sequential pattern of jobs during a career. It can cover 30 years or more until the retirement of the employee. It takes a long-term perspective of the job.
Career planning is a continuous process. HRM should facilitate it by providing career education, information, and counseling to employees for career planning purposes.
- Career education: Career education increased employee awareness about career planning through a variety of educational techniques, such as:
- Workshops and seminars about career planning
- Memoranda and position papers about career planning
- Speeches about career planning
- Career information: Career information provides information to employees about career planning. Such information can be available through Human Resource Information System. HR specialists can advise about career goals and alternative career paths.
- Career counseling: Career counseling is done by professional counselors. They listen to employees and provide job-related information. They help employees to uncover their career interests. Employee self-assessment and environmental assessment are made during career counseling. Roles of HR Management in Organizations on Difficult Times. What is the concept of career planning?
Definitions of Career Planning:
A career may be defined as,
“A sequence of jobs that constitute what a person does for a living.”
According to Schermerborn, Hunt, and Osborn,
“Career planning is a process of systematically matching career goals and individual capabilities with opportunities for their fulfillment.”
Career planning is the process of enhancing an employee’s future value.
A career plan is an individual’s choice of occupation, organization and career path.
Career planning encourages individuals to explore and gather information, which enables them to synthesize, gain competencies, make decisions, set goals and take action. It is a crucial phase of human resource development that helps the employees in making the strategy for work-life balance. New Roles of Human Resource Management in Business Development.
Features of Career Planning and Career Development:
- It is an ongoing process.
- It helps individuals develop the skills required to fulfill different career roles.
- Strengthens work-related activities in the organization.
- Defines the life, career, abilities, and interests of the employees.
- It can also give professional directions, as they relate to career goals.
Objectives of Career Planning:
The major objectives of career planning are as follows:
- To identify the positive characteristics of the employees.
- Develop awareness about each employee’s uniqueness.
- To respect the feelings of other employees.
- Attract talented employees to the organization.
- To train employees towards team-building skills.
- To create healthy ways of dealing with conflicts, emotions, and stress.
Benefits of Career Planning:
- Career planning ensures a constant supply of promotable employees.
- It helps in improving the loyalty of employees.
- Career planning encourages an employee’s growth and development.
- Discourages the negative attitude of superiors who interest in suppressing the growth of the subordinates.
- It ensures that senior management knows about the caliber and capacity of the employees who can move upwards.
- It can always create a team of employees prepared enough to meet any contingency.
- Career planning reduces labor turnover.
- Every organization prepares succession planning towards which career planning is the first step.
Career planning is the process by which one selects career goals and the path to these goals. The major focus of career planning is on assisting the employees to achieve a better match between personal goals and the opportunities that are realistically available in the organization. Career programs should not concentrate only on career growth opportunities. Practically speaking, there may not be enough high-level positions to make upward mobility a reality for a large number of employees. Hence, career-planning efforts need to pinpoint and highlight those areas that offer psychological success instead of vertical growth.
Career planning is not an event or end in itself, but a continuous process of developing human resources for achieving optimum results. It must, however, note that individual and organizational careers are not separate and distinct. A person who is not able to translate his career plan into action within the organization may probably quit the job if he has a choice.
