© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 10 Managing Careers McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Questions This Chapter Will Help Managers Answer What strategies might be used to help employees “self-manage” their careers? What can supervisors do to improve their management of dual-career couples? Why are the characteristics and environment of an employee’s first job so important? What strategies are available for dealing with “plateaued” workers? What steps can managers take to do a better job of responding to the special needs of workers in their early, middle, and late career stages?

Career The objective career A career is a sequence of positions occupied by a person during the course of a lifetime

Career (contd.) The subjective career A career consists of a sense of where one is going in one’s work life

Reasons Why Companies Should Not Ignore Career Issues Rising concerns for quality of work life and for personal life planning Pressures to expand workforce diversity throughout all levels of an organization Rising educational levels and occupational aspirations, coupled with Slow economic growth and reduced opportunities for advancement

Characteristics of Boundaryless Careers Portable knowledge, skills, and abilities across multiple firms Personal identification with meaningful work On-the-job action learning Development of multiple networks of associates and peer-learning relationships, and Responsibility for managing one’s own career

Psychological Success … the feeling of pride and personal accomplishment that comes from achieving one’s most important goals in life, be they achievement, family happiness, inner peace, or something else.

Career Management Guidelines Selecting a field of employment and an employer Knowing where you are Planning your exit

Successful Management of Dual-Career Couples Flexible work schedules Company-supported child care Customized career paths

Reasons Why Employer-Supported Child Care Will Continue to Grow Dual-career couples now comprise a preponderance of the workforce There has been a significant rise in the number of single parents, over half of whom use child-care facilities More and more, career-oriented women are arranging their lives to include motherhood and professional goals

Organizational Entry Socialization …refers to the mutual adaptation of the new employee and the new employer to one another

Organizational Entry Mentoring A mentor is a teacher, an advisor, a sponsor, and a confidant

Issues For Men and Women 35-55 Years of Age An awareness of advancing age and an awareness of death An awareness of bodily changes related to aging Knowing how many career goals have been or will be attained A search for new life goals A marked change in family relationships

Issues (contd.) A change in work relationship (“coach” vs. “rookie”) A growing sense of obsolescence at work A feeling of decreased mobility and increased concern for job security

Career Paths Represent logical and possible sequences of positions that could be held, based on an analysis of what people actually do in an organization

Figure 10-2 Development of a Career System Composed of Individual Career Paths Analyze jobs to determine similarities and differences among them Step 1 Group jobs with similar behavioral requirements into job families Step 2 Identify career paths within and among job families Step 3 Integrate the overall network of career paths into a single career system Step 4

Figure 10-3 Internal Moves in Organizations Promotions Layoffs, Retirements, Resignations Transfers, Relocations Demotions

Demotions … usually involve a cut in pay, status, privilege, or opportunity

Layoff Costs Direct Costs Indirect Costs Severance pay, pay in lieu of notice Accrued vacation and sick pay Supplemental employment benefits Outplacement Pension and benefit payoffs Administrative processing costs Indirect Costs Recruiting and employment cost of new hires Training and retraining Increase in unemployment tax rate Potential charges of unfair discrimination Low morale among remaining employees Heightened insecurity and reduced productivity

Benefits of Job Sharing Retention of experienced workers who would otherwise leave their jobs Benefits continue Overtime is reduced Workers retain a career orientation and potential for upward mobility It eliminates the need for training a temporary employee

Drawbacks of Job Sharing There is a lack of job continuity Supervision is inconsistent Accountability is not centered in one person Non-salary expenses do not decrease, because many benefits are a function of the employee, not the amount of pay When workers are represented by a union, seniority is bypassed, and senior workers may resist sharing jobs

Resignations Impulsive quitters resign “on the spot” (as a result of sharp negative emotions) without any advance planning. Comparison quitters rationally evaluate alternative jobs and are relatively free of strong negative emotions toward their former employers. Preplanned quitters plan in advance to quit at a specific time in the future (e.g., upon reaching age 60). Conditional quitters hold the view: “I will quit as soon as I get another job offer that meets certain conditions.”

Key Terms Discussed in the Chapter Career Career success Career self-management Career planning Organizational entry Socialization Mentor Reverse mentoring Plateaued worker Career paths Promotions Demotions Blended life course Self-assessment Impulsive quitter Comparison quitter Preplanned quitter Conditional quitter