What has happened to careers To what extent can and should HRM be a part of career management - Dissertation Example

?What Has Happened To Careers? To What Extent Can And Should HRM Be A Part Of Career Management? Table of Contents Introduction 3 Objective of the Study 3 Literature Review 4 Arguments on the Topic 5 Future Activity and Conclusion 6 References 8 Bibliography 9 Introduction Since the world is changing at a rapid pace, the economic, cultural, political and technological changes have an immense impact upon the world of work. Moreover, due to uncertainties that accompany with them, these changes can have an adverse effect on the career and lives of the people. In the present competitive era, careers have become too challenging than they used to be. This means that an attempt has to be made to manage the careers. The term career can be defined as the sequence of the job related roles and positions, activities and experiences that are encountered by the person (Anderson & Et. Al., 2002). Objective of the Study The major objective of the proposed study is related to the career management. The study will try to focus on the research questions which would look to address the existing scenario regarding careers along with to what extent HRM (Human Resource Management) can or should be a part of career management. Through this proposed research paper it is intended to identify the role of the HRM in career management. Literature Review Various steps of career management process involve career exploration, development of the career goals and the use of various strategies in order to achieve the career goals. The question that now arises is whether the career management is related to the employee’s development and the performance. For this purpose the relationship that exists among the different aspects of the career management steps as well as the development behaviour of the employee need to be gauged. In this regards, the employees can provide information by considering their personal characteristics, career management strategies, the support of their managers for the career development and their willingness to participate in the development activities. On the other hand, the managers can appraise the performance of the employees and the development behaviour. In this regard, it can be identified that the managers support development. Distance from career goals brings about significant differences in the willingness of the employees to participate in the development activities along with development behaviour (Noe, 1996). It has been argued by the authors and the researchers that the career management programs in formal organisations are part of the firms’ overall human resource strategies. The career management programs are adopted by the organisation in a belief that the performance of the individuals will be enhanced and it will increase the employee’s commitment. If the career management systems are implemented without enough preparation of the organisation, then it might result to ineffective and misleading programs. If the organisation is involved in the individual’s career planning activities, then it might help to reduce the uncertainty that the employees face. It will also assist them in planning and help them in yielding positive results for the organisations (Portwood, 1987). With regards to the question about the existing scenario regarding careers, it can be denoted that there has been little changes in the world of work and the career of the people. Support for changing the focus upon the career stems from the psychologically grounded ideas about people as sculptors of their own careers. It also comes from the fact that the person themselves are the creator of the personal meaning in their lives (Arthur & Et. Al., 1999). The HRM systems of the organisation that would include the workforce planning and staffing procedures, career management and the training and development efforts have to be consistent with the strategic plans of the firms. If the objective of the company is to downsize and shed the business, then in that case the HRM system and the related career programs will be concerned with the outplacement, helping the employees to identify their interest and career goals and to assist them with the process of finding a new job. Both the HRM and the career management systems are integrated to the extent to which they help each other to meet the needs of the individuals and the organisations. It is to be noted that the career management programs must receive support and guidance from the human resource functions (Greenhaus & Et. Al., 2009). Arguments on the Topic It can be argued that the career management program needs to be integrated with the human resource systems. The organisation needs to be more concerned regarding the pool of talented applicants; their selection in order to assure success in the organisation and bring the new recruits on board with the aim that that their contribution towards the organisation can be increased. Therefore, in order to accomplish the above mentioned objectives the organisation has to understand the type of career it is providing its employees and must also concentrate upon the career values that it assumes to be most conducive to success and satisfaction in the organisation. The organisation needs to assist its employees to plan and manage their careers. Career related programs such as career planning workshops, job posting, career counselling and job redesigning can facilitate effective career management. Since the world is changing at a rapid pace, it becomes quite important for the employees and the organisation to develop an understanding on the career management. Future Activity and Conclusion It can be proposed that the general patterns in people’s lives and the effects on their careers need to be considered. Since this is a research proposal, in the near future more literature can be studied in order to make the study more relevant and self-contained. Qualitative approach will be employed in order to gain more in-depth knowledge on the related topic. Books, journals and various websites will be searched for this purpose. Interviews with the HR managers can be conducted in order to understand their views with regards to the career management. For this the face-to-face interview can be the best option for the employees. It can be recommended that the individuals need to be quite versatile in their skills. They need to accept the change and must be quite active in shaping their life at workplace. The organisations also need to be extremely flexible and must be ready to shift with the changing business environment. References Anderson, N. & Et. Al., 2002. Handbook of Industrial, Work & Organizational Psychology: Organizational Psychology, Volume 2. SAGE. Arthur, M. B., 1999. The New Careers: Individual Action and Economic Change. SAGE. Greenhaus, J. H. & Et. Al., 2009. Career Management. SAGE. Noe, R. A., 1996. “Is Career Management Related To Employee Development And Performance?”, Journal of Organisational Behavior. Vol: 17, Iss: 2, Pp: 119-133. Portwood, J. D., 1987. “Matching Individual Career Plans and Organisational Career Management”, Academy of Management Journal. Vol: 30, Iss: 4, Pp: 699- 720. Bibliography Brousseau, K. R. & Et. Al., 1996. “Career Pandemonium: Realigning Organisations and Individual”, JSTOR. Vol: 10, Iss: 4. Heaton, N., 2001. "The New Careers: Individual Action and Economic Change", International Journal of Manpower, Vol: 22 Iss: 3, pp.279 – 285. Ibarra, H., 2003. Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career. Harvard Business Press. Jenner, S., 2000. The Graduate Career Handbook: Making the Right Start for a Bright Future. Financial Times Prentice Hall. Yehuda, B., 2003. Managing Careers: Theory & Practice. Notice. [Online] Available at: http://www.lavoisier.fr/livre/notice.asp?id=O3LW2XALSOOOWH [Accessed February 28, 2011]. Read More