Global Career Management - Essay Example

Global Career Management Name Class Unit Introduction One of the main challenges that face companies globally is sustaining talent in their organisations. Business has been required to adjust to changing demographics and employees’ preferences. Organisations working in the global market have to attract the best employees and ensure that they remain competitive globally (Granrose & Baccili, 2006). Organisations are expected to select talented employees, develop and manage their performance and ensure that they retain the best talent. It takes a good career management for the organisation to have the best talent to succeed (Yarnall, 2008). Employees’ engagement has been identified as the major driver for organisation perfomance and productivity. Coming up with an organisational process with capability to nurture careers have been a great task for companies. Engaging in international assignments has been seen to play a key role in the development of global career competency (Cohen, 2003). Having internal talent in an organisation ensures that there is consistency and deep understanding of business core process. This research paper will look at career management in an organisation based on a global context. International assignments and career development International assignments have long been used to develop global competencies among the employees. The employee competency is built through the assignment as part of career progression. Career management is the complete process which includes planning of the career and managing its succession. Through career planning, the employee progression in an organisation according to its needs, success profiles, performance and preferences are shaped. The succession planning is meant to ensure that the organisation has the managers it needs for future (Cohen, 2003). Theories of career management In the global marketplace, talent management is the main driver for success. The field of career management has two main group theories. The theories are; established theories and the emerging theories. This leads to two main schools of thinking which are; constructivist and objectivist. The constructivist school of thinking uses a linear and rational methodology in defining knowledge. This can be represented by two main theories which are; Holland’s (1997) personality type theory and Dawis and Lofquist’s (1984) work adjustment theory. It has been proved that the emerging theoretical models of career development are based on the constructivist school of thinking. The main problem with both objectivist and constructivist theories is the fact that they focus on domestic career development rather than international career development. The theories also assume that the career of an individual is fixed to a few organisations. The main means of rewards are pay, promotion and status which make the employees not to leave an organisation. This model has made most of the employees to develop their careers based on one or two organisations (Baruch & Altman, 2002). Boundary less careers Since the 1980s, globalisation has led to a great change which has affected the assumption in the theories. The workforce structure has changed in a great way. Employees have been required to be multi skilled and flexible. Intercompany movements have increased as well as the involuntary turnover. At the moment, the psychological contract that existed between the employee and employer has been turned into a transactional contract. The ties of loyalty have diminished between the employers and employees leading to the employees seeking boundary less career (Granrose & Baccili, 2006). Boundary less career is termed as a career which is independent of the employer (Granrose & Baccili, 2006). The employee knowledge and development network is independent of the organisation. This is a career development where the employees take charge of their own progress. The employees make sure that they get work training and the skills they get are transferable. The employee knowledge of the current work is supposed to enhance their future opportunities (Granrose & Baccili, 2006). International managers Globalisation has led to boundary less or nationality less organisations. This is a situation where there is no distinction between international manager and domestic managers. The position of the management leads to most of multinational managers being exposed to international careers (Granrose & Baccili, 2006). Global management is in practised by the expatriates. International itinerants are professional managers who hold the position due to their capability and are employed by at least two different organisations in various countries (Browaeys & Price, 2011). The pressure brought about by globalisation has led to the increase in itinerants as organisations looks for the existing talents. For the globalisation to be successful, there is a need for knowledge, awareness and skills which can enable one to make negotiations in different cultures. The itinerants have the knowledge, skills and awareness which are needed in multicultural management (Baruch & Altman, 2002). Few people are willing to become expatriates as opposed to those who want to be international itinerant. There have been arguments that many of the expatriates’ assignments do not help an employee to develop their career. The expatriates feel neglected when they return home and their international experience may not be valued. Some of the organisations have been accused of wasting the experience gained by the expatriates through neglecting them when they return to their home countries (Cohen, 2003). Due to disillusionment with their progress in careers, the expatriates who were not recognised after completing their assignment abroad embarks on independent careers as international itinerants. International itinerants are not easy to find they are in most cases scattered. The employing organisations are also secretive and do not publicise their foreign managers (Wankel, 2008). International itinerants were previous employees of multinational companies while others have gone abroad after domestic employment. An expatriate may fail in their assignment and not in their careers. This may lead to them joining the international itinerants. These expatriates join itinerant work as it gives them autonomy, responsibility and lifestyle which cannot be given by the traditional employers (Granrose & Baccili, 2006). The demand for expertise has been growing in today’s world. Expatriates who have enough skills to find it more reasonable to sell it to an international organisation without relying on the former employer. This leads to expatriates who are valued for their skills joining the itinerants. For some of the international itinerants, their skills can be applied across cultures (Heslin, 2005). This makes it hard for them to work in the same place and needs a career that will enable them to move regularly. People who are willing and have the ability to work in different work environments are highly needed. In some instances, itinerants are mavericks. This refers to those whose personal and professional capabilities are of value to the employer. The employer does not provide them with training apart from the one gained in the job setting (Baruch & Altman, 2002). International itinerants are as a result of globalisation. They are a group who manages their own careers hence looks for the best pay, best development opportunity and employment conditions. Their career development path is very different from that of the traditional expatriates. This is a self managed career where there is no support from the employer. When they complete a task, the employer has no obligation to further assist them. Loyalty between the employer and employee is based on short term duration (Heslin, 2005). For the international itinerants, they give their career the first priority. Due to loyalty to their own career, itinerants keep moving from one employer to another. This is done with an aim of looking for the best career that will enable them to learn (Granrose & Baccili, 2006). The career skills are the main asset that allows one to pursue personal goals. For the expatriates, they assess their career development through their level of pay. For the international itinerant, career progress is judged by the level of professional learning achieved. The main worry is to gain skills and expertises that can enable them gain the next job. On job training has been one of the most important aspects. This is due to fact that once the skills are outdated, one is forced to take a low paying job. Learning and gaining job experience have been proved to be a very important aspect in career management (Baruch & Altman, 2002). Shifts in career management The shifts from the traditional career management where the employee is expected to gain experience and remain loyal to the employer have led to boundary less careers management. The career management of the international itinerants offers the new model which can be used for global career management. The domestic organisations have lost some of their managers who seek to have international boundary less careers. This is where the managers have decided to look at their own interest rather than the organisations. This has been a major path for career development for the domestic mangers (Heslin, 2005). The managers in domestic forms have realised that they have a responsibility for their own career development which have led to serving different firms and gaining new skills. In the globalised world, careers are mobile and learning based. New employment strategies are needed such as those used by the itinerant managers. There have been establishment of human resource management for the international itinerants (Cohen, 2003). In 21st century, career transitions have been experienced as the business environment has become turbulent and unpredictable. Employees have taken charge of their career development rather than letting the organisations do it for them (Forsyth, 2002). Career stress has become evident as individuals struggle to gain career development. To tackle career stress, employees have been advised to become resilient. This can only be achieved if the employees are able to gain employability rather than secure employment. The ability to acquire employment has been the main goal in individual career management. The employers can longer provide secure jobs for the employees and the only help they can offer is helping the employee become employable (Cooper, Dewe & O'Driscoll, 2002). In the modern career environment, there are two different career concepts. The concepts are intelligent career and protean career. These are valid career concepts in the boundary less career environment (Granrose & Baccili, 2006). Intelligent careers have been cited to have the elements which are necessary for career management. For the intelligent career, one is expected to have the lifestyle, career competency, networking and requirements. In the protean career, the employee is the one managing the career not the organisation. The employee is supposed to own the career choice and seek for self fulfillment. This is a contract with oneself and the individual defines the life success (Cohen, 2003). In contrast to the traditional career management, the success in modern career is determined by the employee inner feelings related to self actualisation. Protean career can well flourish in the boundary less career world, unlike in the traditional settings where it was suppressed. Even in the individual career management, the organisation still plays a part. In a balanced perspective, the focus of career management is both individual and organisation based. Individuals will choose organisations where their career needs can be fulfilled. For the organisation the look for the employees who can enable them to have a competitive advantage (Zupan & Ograjenšek, 2004). This leads to a situation where there is shared responsibility in career development (Cohen, 2003). Discussion Career Active System Triad (CAST) is a career development model which is made up of three levels of analysis. The three levels are; values, approach and behaviours (Heslin, 2005). Values convey the individual aspirations, strategy. Approaches looks at policies and attitudes while behaviours looks at actions and practices. Through values, one is able to judge whether the organisation is taking the modern or traditional approach in career management (Cohen, 2003). Career Planning and Management (CPM) have been recognised worldwide as part of the Human resource management. The organisations have a responsibility to plan and manage their human resources. CPM has been utilised by the organisations in form of clusters by arranging group of practices according to their interrelationship and application in the organisation (Heslin, 2005). The major roles of the organisation in career management are to act as an enabler, developer and supporter for the human resources. The command and control approach have changed to supportive and developmental approach. The organisation has to act as an enabler of a successful career. This is through arranging their system according to the employees and system needs (Cooper, Dewe & O'Driscoll, 2002). For the career management to be effective, it will utilise the output gained from the perfoamcne appraisal system. The industrial revolution led to change in the way careers were managed by transforming the power of managing careers to the organisation. But over the last few decades, the power of managing careers has shifted to the individuals. Individuals have taken control of their lives especially their careers (Cohen, 2003). In an organisation, human capital plays a major role in gaining a competitive advantage. This has led to the organisations investing in employees. Despite this, it is important to know that an organisation cannot own an employee. Thus, managing the careers becomes a risky process since employees can leave at their own will (Greenhaus, Callanan & Godshalk, 2000). Organisations have been engaging in educating their employees through paid tuition. This has been found to have adverse effects on the organisation. If the new skills gained by the employee are not appreciated or utilised by the organisation, the chances of the employee leaving are high. Employees move to new firms where their skills and knowledge are appreciated. This shows that commitments and loyalties have changed (Baruch, 1998). Managing employee’s careers across the boarders have been a major issue in multinationals. The challenges met are how to manage careers in a multinational setting with diverse operations, different systems and understanding while at the same time retaining the general strategy. The second challenge has been managing expatriates (Granrose & Baccili, 2006). The psychological aspect of working in another country and being able to adjust to varying cultures in the boundary less working environment is a big challenge. There is a psychological contract when managing expatriation and repatriation as well as the adjustment process. Using the emissary strategy, the employees are pushed to the expatriation through emotional pressure of commitment. Also one can use a peripheral strategy where the employees put pressure to be expatriated (Baruch, 1998). There are challenges where employees refuse to be expatriated to certain countries. This leads to need for incentives for some employees in order to be expatriated (Yarnall, 2008). In the global career management, diversity is a major issue. The representation of women, ethnic minorities and the aging population are groups that need to be considered. In some countries, immigrants cannot be citizens since they are not born there. Organisations are thus supposed to manage diversity. Diversity has been recognised to be healthy and beneficial to organisations engaging in global business (Strauser, 2014). Organisations have thus been forced to treat all workers equally. Diversity in multinational organisation requires appropriate career management to avoid misconduct (Cooper, Dewe & O'Driscoll, 2002). Career success has been seen as either being able to climb the organisation ladder or having the feeling of internal worthiness. Career success can be seen as the ability to attain and retain the career objectives. For some employees, earning determines success. When an employee pay cannot cater for their needs, they tend to be discontent (Schermerhorn, 2013). Career management should thus focus on attaining balance between work and life. Where then balance lacks, employees become stressed which can lead to eventual breakdown (Harrington & Hall, 2007). The Human Resource department is thus supposed to know balance the balance in order to have a healthy organisation (Morton, 2005). The competition for skilled workers globally is intense. Organisations are looking for workers who are skilled due to existing shortage. The growth of multinationals and outsourcing in low cost areas have led to social and economic challenges (Granrose & Baccili, 2006). The need for talent has led to movements across borders. Organisations have been more concerned in having future organisational leaders who can manage global business. Career management success has been attributed to the involvement of the organisational leadership and employees. The development of global HR policies and practices has led to creation of global career management processes (Baruch, 1998). The career landscape has changed and the approach used to manage careers thus has changed. Despite this, the traditional approaches of career management are still used but new methods have been added due to globalisation. Through technology, knowledge acquisition has been enhanced. Organisations have been able to invest heavily in HRM programs which enable career management in a global setting. Despite this, the role of individual in managing career is significant (Morton, 2005). Conclusion Organisations face challenge in sustaining talent globally. Coming up with an organisational process with capability to nurture careers have been a great task for companies. International assignments have been a major source of career development through enhancing employees’ competency in a global setting. Despite this, if an expatriate is not recognised after completing the international assignment, they have been shifting to be international itinerants. They are a group who manages their own careers hence looks for the best pay, best development opportunity and employment conditions. The shift from the traditional career management where the employee is expected to gain experience and remain loyal to the employer has led to boundary less careers. This is a situation where an individual takes charge of their career management and have no loyalty to any organisation. Despite the shift to individual career management, the role of organisations in career management cannot be underestimated. Human resource capital is the main cause of competitive advantage which has led to organisations working to help employees in their career management. It has been proved that successful career management in a global environment should focus on balancing work and life to avoid job stress. There is also development of global HRM policies aimed at enhancing global career management. References Baruch, Y. 1998, “The rise and fall of organizational commitment”. Human System Management, Vol.17, no.2, p.135-143. Baruch, Y., & Altman, Y. 2002, “Expatriation and repatriation in MNC: A taxonomy”. Human Resource Management, Vol.41, no.2, p.239-259. Browaeys, M.-J., & Price, R. 2011. Understanding cross-cultural management. Harlow, England: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Cooper, C. L., Dewe, P. J & O'Driscoll, M. P 2002, Organizational stress: A review and critique of theory, research, and applications, Thousand Oaks, Sage. Forsyth, P2002, Career management. Oxford, U.K: Capstone Pub. Granrose, C. S & Baccili, P. A 2006, “Do psychological contracts include boundaryless or protean careers?” Career Development International, Vol. 1, no.3, p.163-182. Greenhaus, J. H., Callanan, G. A & Godshalk, V.M 2000, Career management (3rd ed.), Fort Worth, Dryden. Harrington, B., & Hall, D. T 2007, Career management & work-life integration: Using self- assessment to navigate contemporary careers, Los Angeles, SAGE Publications. Heslin, P. A 2005, “Experiencing career success”, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 34,no.4, p. 376-390. Morton, L 2005, Talent management value imperatives: Strategies for execution, New York, The Conference Board. Schermerhorn, J. R 2013, Management, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Strauser, D. R 2014, Career development, employment, and disability in rehabilitation:From theory to practice, New York, NY., Springer Publishing Company. Wankel, C 2008, 21st century management: A reference handbook, Los Angeles, Calif: SAGE Publications. Yarnall, J 2008, Strategic career management: Developing your talent, Amsterdam, Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann. Zupan, N & Ograjenšek, I 2004, The link between human resource management and company performance, Journal of East-West Business, Vol.10, no.1, p.105-119. Read More