The Canadian standards and guidelines for career development practitioners states that Career Development is a gradual process throughout one’s life and it involves the management of learning, work, leisure, and change over, so as to reach at an individually determined place and develop a future of one’s preference. Traditional career development was purely an individual employee’s own initiative to further his career. However, as organizations’ vouch for employee retention as a means of rising productivity and reducing costs, organizations have taken an active role in helping their employees’ careers to progress through career development programs.
According to Baldwin (2003) career development has shifted from employees just wanting to ‘get ahead’ but rather to include the understanding of how best an individual can get the best out of himself and to include how he can find a fitting place in the organization where they can show excellence. Career development thus includes issues such as promotions and upward movement while including lateral movement (job transfers within the organization. It deals with the foundational aspect of the relationship of employees to their jobs and to their organization (Baldwin, 2003).
Career development is important because the knowledge, abilities, and the experiences gained assist the ability of the individual to develop a reasonable way of living. In the current competitive environment it is a must for all organization to create an atmosphere that encourages growth and development. This is possible through the realization of a career growth program in the place of work. This paper seeks to explore and describe how managers can assist their employees in career development, thus enhancing organizational loyalty among employees higher job satisfaction and reduced complains and employee turnover (Gilley & Gilley, 2007)
The Key goal of management is ensure that the organization is running flawlessly and that organizational goals are being met. Among the functions of management is the staffing function, which then places the management as fully responsible for the hiring, training and retention of employees in a bid to fill the job positions that are necessary to meet organizational goals. Such a position then makes the managers to be best placed in helping their employees in career development as part of their staffing function. To ensure that all the employees exercise their full capacity, it is the obligation of the manager to organize tasks, movement, and space and within which employees operate. However, workers have contradictory interests in relation to job security, rewards, and engagement in both formal (trade unions) and informal ones. In reference to Vaiman and Vance (2008) workers own counter management behavior results to control and discipline. Employees’ behavior can be controlled through technical and bureaucratic control method (Lindholm et al. 2012).
Managers can help their employees develop their careers by putting in place a strategic career development plan. This plan will be geared towards improving the employee’s ability to do his work efficiently. Most employers in this regard are motivated to put in place career development programs because such are seen as an effective way of solving various personnel challenges. According to Vaiman and Vance (2008), people management entails an assortment of techniques and approaches that are used by company to resource their companies in a manner that can assist the company to meet its goals. It encompasses of numerous management actions that facilitate accomplishment of fundamental groups of personnel and improvement objectives, these include management, performance, recruitment and change management. The objective of staffing involves ensuring the company can call on the services of sufficient staffs to accomplish set objectives. Such staff must connect in an assortment of roles, and be in a position to deliver their duties as required of them for the organization to function effectively. It is after staffing objective that performance objectives are realized. The purpose of a performance objective is effecting all methods used by the employer in order to motivate the employees and boost their will give outstanding performances in their duties.
Managers can also help their employees in career development through training. The focus here is to enhance performance to the highest levels possible while strengthening the employee’s abilities to handle wider responsibilities that will equip them for career advances and roles that are helpful to both the employee and the organization. Such an endeavor to increase performance is possible when managers oversee employee training, they make decisions on which employees need training and the skill gaps to be covered by the training. In providing training opportunities managers must consider all employees fairly. This must be done without regard to political affiliations, age, sex, handicapping condition, marital status, color, race or religion. There should also be proper regard for employees’ constitutional rights and privacy as stipulated by the Merit System Principles. In addition promotion must be based on merit procedures being followed while selecting employees for training (Lindholm et al. 2012). By offering training that matches individual’s goals with organizational needs and assist employees in the process of planning their careers.
Another way mangers can assist their employees in career development is through career counseling. Career counseling is an important factor in the employee development process; it has potential to bring huge benefits to the organization. By setting up a career counseling program managers can help the organization identify staff with high performance capabilities while helping the same employees map out career opportunities that are realistic. The aim of career counseling is to help employees exploit their strengths and potentials avoiding gaps between individual competence, aspirations, and organizational opportunities. Career counseling reduces the likelihood of preparing an employee for a position they are not well suited for. According to Sims (2007) career counseling helps the employees recognize, define and choose their career goals during the course of their careers. It affords the management the opportunities to balance organizational needs with those of the employees.
Sims (2007) further states that for effective career development management the employees need to have enough information of how their needs match those of the organization. Vaiman and Vance (2008) asserts that employees who gain satisfaction from realizing that their expectations can be met inside the organization will likely become a highly loyal, motivated and productive employee. Career counseling has the potential to double up as a performance appraisal tool if appropriately utilized, because it matches the employees’ performance against his aspirations and compare them to organizational objectives and expectation.
Numerous administration processes concentrates on managing employment relationships that they have established with the staffs according to the company's regulation and certified ethics. To realize these targets, organizations come up with personnel and improvement guiding principles, and an acceptable work procedure along with other documents relating to employment of an individual. These documents include a job description, contracts, and offers letters, weekly expected hours of work, disciplinary warnings and target. These documents apply as guidelines to the work operations. The change of management aspect in group management ascertains that proper acknowledgment is provided to the significance of such changes in the company and its entire management process. Career development management is fundamentally based on organizations business environment that is subject to continual dynamism. There is a need to align the administrative practices and formation of the company with environmental demand for the preferred work behaviors to be realized. On the other hand, effective management of employees is a momentous change agent that can redress such situations when such need arise. In many organizations career counseling responsibilities are assigned to personnel that are knowledgeable about the employee experience, abilities, and skill. The career counselors should also have a superior understanding of the working environment and developmental opportunities within the organization. Such a description fits the managers who because of their positions and experience and skills make them capable of handling such a process. Managers should be able to monitor employees progress as well as facilitate and advice their staff on career direction. To ensure effectiveness in career counseling, the managers must possess good counseling skills (flexibility, sensitivity and communication). They must also posses enough information about the employee being counseled; their experience, capabilities, aptitudes, motives, aptitudes and work characteristics. This knowledge will assist the career counselor make right judgment about the employee.
Managers can also assist employees in their career development by proactively managing opportunities for employees who have a high potential. In order to retain top talent and keep them engaged it is important for employees to be accessed to development opportunities. Most of these opportunities are not easily accessible and are not in the direct reach of most employees. However, it is much easier for the management to access this opportunities. It is therefore, important for the management to link employees pro actively to this existing opportunity. These activities should be purposeful as they are the key drivers in determining the evolution of your valuable employees into good manager and leaders. According to Vaiman and Vance (2008) some organizations have embraced this by creating a talent council where managers discuss high potential employees and identify their development needs .The work of this council is to look for and identify opportunities, upcoming openings and assignments that are necessary to boost the experiences and skills needed for career growth. In doing this the management creates the much necessary link that is needed for career growth. Providing such opportunities speeds up career growth and helps turn novices into professionals easier with least effort and time.
Clear communication should also be used by management in helping employees in their career development. Management should be able to clearly articulate their expectations from employees at different levels of operations. Whenever employees are unaware of expectations and don’t know what to do to reach organizational objectives they get frustrated. It is therefore imperative for managers to communicate clearly their performance expectations for the future. This will enable them to accurately assess themselves at different levels of the organization and know whether they are equipped enough for the future (Yarnall, 2008). This helps employees in career development.
Career development is something that gives direct benefits to an employee as it is a means to better one’s life. It thus requires a lot of determination, interest and focus from the employee in order to achieve the benefits. It is about the employee not just been well off but also how they can make the best of themselves. Career development not only benefits the employees but also the organization where an employee is attached. It has then become the role of the organization to ensure that employees are developed in their careers to help the organizations grow.
References
Baldwin, D. (2003). The library compensation handbook: a guide for administrators, librarians, and staff. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited.
Gilley, J. & Gilley, A. (2007). The manager as coach. Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers.
Lindholm, J., Yarrish, K. & Zaballero, A. (2012). HR forms and job aids. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
Sims, R. (2007). Human resource management: contemporary issues, challenges, and opportunities. Charlotte, N.C: Information Age Pub.
Vaiman, V. & Vance, C. (2008). Smart talent management building knowledge assets for competitive advantage. Cheltenham, UK Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.
Yarnall, J. (2008). Strategic career management developing your talent. Amsterdam London: Butterworth-Heinemann.
