Career development issues

There is little question who is responsible for assess­ing training needs and planning strategies to meet these needs. Most organizations hold the supervisor responsible for seeing that subordinates are trained to do their jobs. However, assessing career goals and the education and skill development needed to achieve these goals is another matter. Who is responsible for employees’ career development is very often not clear.

In helping employees assess career goals and education and development needs, the supervisor has to decide how far his or her responsibility in career counseling extends and how far he or she is willing to go to provide help.

Most experts on career development believe the employee should have final responsibility for managing and developing his or her own career. The supervisor can help in many ways but should remain a helper–not a decision maker, but a facilitator of decisions. In this role, supervisors should follow good counseling practices:

• Ask questions

• Listen actively

• Provide information

• Help focus ideas

• Give feedback on strengths and weak­nesses as they are perceived

• Refer the employee to other sources of information (and perhaps a professional career counselor if

needed and if avail­able), and

• Assist the employee in developing action plans

What is succession planning. What information is necessary to evaluate the potential of an employee?

Succession Planning :It refers to the plans a company makes to fills most importance executive position .In practice the process involves a fairly complicated and integrated series of steps.

A most comprehensive definition of succession planning is that it is the process of ensuring a suitable supply of success or for current and future senior or key jobs arising in the business strategy, so that the career of individuals can be planned and managed to optimize the organization needs and the individual aspirations.

Succession planning is done in 3 time frames:

Immediate - within one year

Intermediate - one year to 3 years

Long Range - Beyond three years

Organizations gear most by their management succession activities to the immediate future. This is mostly because it is integrated closely with the annual budgets and business plans. However, the real succession plan should be geared towards intermediate and long-range time frames.

Elements of Succession Planning:

As a first step, management staffing plans should be developed. These plans should be prepared on an individual basis for all anticipating needs in the intermediate years ahead and for key position in the intermediate and long-range future. The potential effects by external factors, such as economic forecasts and overall manpower market forecasts should be received and considered. The business plans should be received to determine their effect all-managerial needs. As business plans for both the near and long term are developed, the organizations plans and human resources forecasts should be formed.

The Second Step concerns staffing and development. Staffing includes recruitment, selection and placement of candidates from the outside and inside the organization and development of managerial personnel should be ensured through approaches such as formal training both within the organization and outside, planned job rotation performance planning and appraisal, counseling and coaching.

The third step concerns needing a congenial environment, where people give their best. The organization’s environment should ensure the retention of the most desirable employee.

The Fourth Step consists of doing appraisals. Appraisals and analysis of results achieved should provide an organization with essential feedback on the performance of managers.

The Fifth Step is the S.P exercise in the preparation of management resource statutory consisting of the following:

Personal Data

Performances

Potential

Skills Career Goals

Career Plans

Potential appraisals are done to know the potential of the employees so that the employees who have more potential become eligible for promotions.

As assessment center is used to assess the potential of management candidates considered are asked to perform realistic tasks under observation of expert appraisers.

Simulated exercises in a typical assessment center includes:

In basket:

The candidate is given a number of reports, names, and notes on incoming phone calls, letters and the material collected in the in-basket of the simulated jobs he is supposed to take over. The candidate is asked to take appropriate actions on each of these materials.

Group Discussion:

A leaderless group discussion is given a topic for discussion and asked to arrive at a group discussion. The raters then evaluate each group member’s personal skills, acceptance by the group, leadership ability and individual inference.

Management Games:

Participants engage in realistic problem solving. E.g., as member of two more companies that are competing in the marketplace. Decisions would have to be made about matters like how to advertise and manufacture and how much inventory to keep in stock.

Individual Presentation:

A participant’s communication skill and persuasiveness evaluated by having the person take an oral presentation on an assigned topic.

Objective Tests:

Papers and pencil tests for personality, mental ability, interests and achievement may be conducted to measure the participant’s sense on factors to be assessed.

Interview:

are conducted to determine the participant’s current interests, background, past performance and motivation.

Through these processes, the participant’s potential is assessed and management development and placement decisions taken. Potential of the existing candidates working with the company can be evaluated by their past performances with the company.

Source : Personnel Management Question & Answer by Amresh Anjan