Excerpt
I. Table of contents:
I. Table of contents
II. Executive summary
III. Introduction
IV. The role of the Individual in Career Development
V. The role of the Manager in Career Development
VI. The role of Employer in Career Development
VII. Conclusion
VIII. References
II. Executive summary
This paper will highlight the role of the individual, manager and employer in career development. Firstly, I will explain, what the career development is in general. Secondly, I will emphasize, which abilities and attitude should show an individual and how crucial is the career planning in respect of the development. Furthermore, I will analyse the manager’s role in this process. I will adduce aspects such as commitment, coaching and mentoring, which are essential in manager’s contribution. Moreover, I will stress that role of employee relies on providing with opportunities such as trainings and creating the positive environment. In conclusion, I will emphasize that individual, manager and employer have to collaborate and be cohesive in vison of career development.
III. Introduction
According to Kroth and Christensen (2009), the career development is a lifelong and cyclical activity, which relies on recruiting the right candidate, develop the individual’s job potential and find the right employee for the right position. The career development involves all levels of organization such as employees, managers and employers. This process constitutes partnership between an employee and an employer and its part of the enterprise’s attraction. If the employer doesn’t provide the career development as a basic part of the organizational structure, the many future employees won’t consider the employment with the firm. The company should ensure the opportunities of the development in order not to lose the potential of an employee. Furthermore, an individual has to exhibit the specific skills and abilities and obtain the positive outcomes in order to be promoted by the organization. The career development has mutual advantages both for the business and an individual. The career development is a positive phenomenon, which is associated generally with the promotions of the employee through trainings; pay rise and higher level of recognition, status and motivation, what has a positive influence for the company’s productivity. An employee should work out a career path plan and the business should give him a possibility to work his way to the top. An organization should also define which skills and abilities are expected from the workforce to achieve their long term strategic goals. However, according to Kroth and Christensen (2009), the career development will be effortless, clear and affordable priority for management, only when an individual and organization have the same objectives towards the strategy of the firm. The stronger focus on the career development, the less visible differences between an employee and the company, because the firm is able to steer, invest and influence the employee’s aspiration along the way.
IV. The role of the Individual in Career Development
According to survey conducted by University of Phoenix (Quast 2014), there is a disagreement between employers and employees about whose responsibility is for the career development. Around 70% of workers believe that the employer should provide professional training, career-advancement mentoring and identify job opportunities, whereas about 80% of managers claim that the employee should take the responsibility for updating, improving or building their career-planning skills. If this disagreement appears inside the organization, there is a slight possibility for the development of an individual. In other words, if the both sides don’t want to cooperate on the terms of the career, there is no chance for an evaluation of the worker. Both management and individual are depend on each other in the process of the development. The management should offer training possibilities and promotions activities to the employee, but first of all an individual should be active and engaged in his growth within an organization. Usually the career management fail, only because of the individual and the employer have higher expectations from each other in terms of development. There needs to be more honest conversation between the two sides about what the end goal should be, as well as what learning tools are available within the organization to get there. According to Lisa Quast (2014), first of all, an individual should define his career aspiration. The employee should ask himself/herself, where he/she wants to be in 10 years’ time and if the present organization can ensure these conditions. Furthermore, the worker should create a career plan, where he identifies his goals and his focus on specific tasks. He should also share his plan with manager; the feedback, conversation will be helpful; an information, which courses or trainings he needs to attend to develop as an employee or if the company provides with training or tuition assistance. An individual should share its progress of development with the manager or HR representative on regular basis to get feedback or guidance, which is necessary in order to improve and evaluate as an employee. The career planning constitutes a significant aspect of the career development, because identifies personal skills, abilities, needs and aspirations and it’s a base for possible promotion. Through career planning, an individual can be aware of his strengths, weaknesses and knowledge or skills, which are required to achieve the future goals. This complex activity consists of 5 stages: self-assessment, self-development, a thorough research self-development, come up with action form and action.
V. The role of the Manager in Career Development
The manager plays a crucial role in career’s development. First of all, he should be a mentor to expand the capabilities of the individuals and improve their performance. According to John Kotter (2012), the role of the manager as a mentor can be helpful particularly for young employees, who have just started their career. He emphasises that the successful executives, who he has known, have had two or more these sort of relationships with their managers in the early stage of their career. The mentors provided them with specific information, important contacts or skills. Secondly, the effective manager should incorporate coaching skills into his management style. For instance, at Intel, the management department is responsible to help the workforce understand the shifting demand for their skills and ensure that the staff will be provided with appropriate training. At Reuters, the employees are also receiving the guidance to help them to work more efficiently. According to the Dennis Kinlaw’s (2013) coaching model, the managers should show commitment towards their employees. The commitment is defined by four factors: influence, clarity, competence and appreciation. First of all, the manager should involve the individuals in the processes within organization. The more influence an employee will have, the more commitment he will incorporate into his work. Commitment increases, when the manager is clear about his expectations and aims and it reduces, if an individual is not educated to certain level about job tasks. An individual, who is more competent, will be more committed to do the tasks in compare with the person, who is struggling with the work because of the incompetence. The managers should also appreciate their employees through rewarding them with praise or promotions. According to Kris Magnusson’s coaching model (2010), factors such as pride, passion, purpose, performance and poise play crucial role in conversations between manager and employee. The manager has to initiate the conversation with the above-mentioned strengths to motivate the employee particularly when something is not getting done right in the process of development. The manager should play supportive and motivational role in the career development. Moreover, according to Vroom’s theory, the managers who provide the employees with the rewards, have high-motivated staff, which has positive influence on the overall prosperity of the firm. According to Blake and Mouton’s model (Vliet 2013), the managers can reach the organization’s effectiveness, only when they realize the importance of the productivity and commitment of the employee.
VI. The role of Employer in Career Development
Firstly, the employer has to create a positive work environment for the employees. According to Fortune magazine (2015), the Google is on the top of the 100 best companies, which created the most productive workplace in the world. The organization provides an employee with facilities such as fitness center, library and café, where are served free breakfast, lunch or dinner to increase the satisfaction among the employees. Alison Mooney, who used to work for New York’s model agency, she was working 24/7 answering emails or receiving phone calls nights and weekends, she didn’t have time for personal life, thus she left. Since she started working for Google, her life quality improved; she is not bother anymore with work on weekends, because the firm is shut down for these days (Stewart 2013). People, who are treated well, are more engaged, what has positive influence on their involvement and productivity. According to the Fortune magazine (Biro 2014), the revenues of the 100 best companies to work for, increased by 22.2%. The employees of 100 best companies also earn 5 times higher than national average. In other words, it’s worth to invest into the employees, because it significantly affects turnover and overall results of the firm. According to Meghan M. Biro (Biro 2014), the employer has to pay fairly to the staff. The work environment constitutes a significant aspect, but at the end of the day it’s about how much an individual can earn for living. The next factor the company should deliver some sort of benefits such as discounts (e.g. John Lewis, Marks&Spencer, Topshop) or free memberships (e.g. Virgin Active) to their staff, which increase loyalty among the employees. Moreover, the enterprise should share the profits with the employees in order to encourage them to work harder. The Simon&Schuster enterprise, which published Fifty Shades of Grey, pay each employee 5000 pounds bonus, when the book hit the record profit (Biro 2014). The employer should be also approachable and responsive. People spend most of the time at work and their frustration clearly increases, when they feel voiceless. The individuals should have right to express the differences of opinion in respectful and professional way. According to the study Tracking People Priorities and Trends in High Performance Companies (Lipman 2014), the four factors contribute to success of the organization. First of all, the individuals are more motivated and high-performing in companies, which focus on the long-term career opportunities and training. Secondly, the companies, which encourage and empower their employees through supportive culture, receive higher scores. Rewards and recognition are the significant part of the healthy corporate culture too. The work satisfaction grows, when the employees receive bonuses, compensation or non-monetary recognition. It’s also important to lead an open leadership and communicate down the line, giving the opportunity of every individual to contribute the new ideas.
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