Organizational Career Management and Development - Essay Example

Career Development (Name) (University) Executive Summary Personal career development encompasses the phases and steps taken towards improving the skills, ethical behavior and work practice of an individual at the workplace. Individuals set their goals on the basis of what they want to achieve. Based on the BLCP career scale, the results show that the individual wants to be totally in charge of their career. The knowledge of what one wants to achieve in their career helps in making the right decisions such as choosing the right career initially and growing on from that point. Additionally, the individual is value driven and does not care much for company values especially if they contradict with their personal values. Organizations with a strong workforce that is skilled, continuously trained and motivated work better towards achieving their organizational goals. Most organizations in this era are working towards empowering their employees all-round to better manage the organizations. Approaches used such as the whole life approach and systems approach in organizations have considerably improved worker performance and hence organizational performance. The whole life approach for instance is focused on factors not related to work which affect the employees. Companies that possess an innovation strategy hire employees who are more highly educated and provide more and better training to these professionals than those companies with a quality or low cost strategy. Firms with an innovation strategy and those with a high quality strategy tend to invest more in group decision and leadership training programs. This fact may be as a result of the need to facilitate joint decision-making and teamwork, since both types of strategies rely more on employee initiative than on direct managerial coordination and control. The existence of a foreign company in a country where career practices are different may strongly clash with the framework as the company may be forced to follow its own practices to achieve quality but at the same time break the law in the foreign country. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Personal Career Development 4 Organizational Career Management and Development 5 Strategy and Development 6 National Context 7 Recommendations 8 Conclusion 8 References 9 Appendices 11 Career Development Introduction Career development has evolved from a tool that was previously isolated for the growth of an individual to an asset used in organizations for strategic purposes (Knudsen, 2015). More organizations have invested into career development programs for their employees as it in turn benefits the organization as well as growing the employees. Given the competitive environment in organizations and among countries, it is vital to create a working environment where growth and development of employees is fostered (Hughes, 2015). The positive results that have been witnessed through the use if this approach are difficult to ignore. This retro respect paper therefore discusses individual career development and organizational career management and links it to strategies and development and the national context. Personal Career Development Personal career development encompasses the phases and steps taken towards improving the skills, ethical behavior and work practice of an individual at the workplace (Robbins, 2013). The process of developing the career of an individual consists of performing a self assessment to understand the current standing of the individual at the workplace (Kirst-Ashman, 2014). This assessment provides information on the areas that require attention and change. Self assessment is followed by the setting of personal goals to be achieved in the particular career. For these goals to be achieved, new skills and an outside eye are needed to provide mentorship (Kirst-Ashman, 2014). The measurement of progress is additionally vital as it gives the individual information on how far they have advanced and provide room for change. Working at Cadence Australia where projects are managed has enlightened me in my career, provided needed challenges and a chance to grow. The following is my career summary. I am a respected professional who is self motivated with more than 7 years experience in the management of project simultaneously. I have acquired extensive experience through the management of projects that are large scale in nature from the initial phase where requirements are gathered to the completion of the projects. I am highly skilled in the tracking of details and communication of deadlines. I follow projects up with the respective partners; both internal and external to ensure that the projects are completed in time and within the budget. I possess an ability and interest in learning and incorporating new technology. I have consistently received positive feedback from managers, coworkers and clients. The acronym SMART in business stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. My two individual career goals are to be specific and measureable. Specific: Reaching a goal successfully depends on the ability to have a clear image in mind of what one would like to achieve (Anderson, 2013). This involves a number that is set or level that the individual feels is achievable. SMART goals and objectives are measured by how much sales one wants to achieve or increase. The picture of the end result needed has to be clear in the bearer’s mind. Measurable: Goals and objectives are measurable when you can put a figure on them: one stands to achieve practicality in the pursuit of their goals when they are familiar with the exact rate of their advancement toward achieving the measured target (Anderson, 2013). Based on the BLCP career scale, the results showed that the individual wants to be totally in charge of their career. The knowledge of what one wants to achieve in their career helps in making the right decisions such as choosing the right career initially and growing on from that point. Additionally, the individual is value driven and does not care much for company values especially if they contradict with their personal values. The individual is additionally focused on a career that is boundaryless (Briscoe, 2005). Organizational Career Management and Development Organizations with a strong workforce that is skilled, continuously trained and motivated work better towards achieving their organizational goals (Sessa, 2015). The task of lining individual goals with those of the organization can prove difficult thus the human resources tea has to handle it intellectually to ensure maximum cooperation that is not forced upon the workers. Inasmuch as employee contribution is appreciated, the lack of a specific approach or any move towards career management and development in Cadence is wanting. Most organizations in this era are working towards empowering their employees all-round to better manage the organizations, serve customers appropriately and thus making Cadence appear backward (Billet, 2015). Approaches used such as the whole life approach and systems approach in organizations have considerably improved worker performance and hence organizational performance. The whole life approach for instance is focused on factors not related to work which affect the employees (Litano , 2016). Cadence does not worry over the activities that employees engage in besides work despite giving them a flexible environment to practice those activities. Research has shown that an interest into the personal life of employees and other factors that they experience, which do not directly relate to work, would prove helpful if known by the employer. Activities such as career days and celebrations at work can inculcate the family of employees (Parker, 2014). Other team building activities and benchmarking forums can provide opportunities for employees to practice their hobbies. Such practices encourage employees to be more productive in the company, helping them develop their careers within the company and perform better (Pinder, 2014). Given my career goals in being precise in achieving target sales and ones that are measurable, Cadence Australia relatively suits these ideals. The work environment is flexible as employees are able to balance between their personal life and their careers. However, the absence of a formal program for employees means that there is no training or promotion provided at the organization. This factor limits my goals in that the way towards achieving the desired and specific goal is hampered by the lack of an opportunity to improve skills and thus develop career wise. Cadence Australia does not focus on any research to improve its workforce. The organization leans strongly on its finances, thus lacking the innovation to grow itself through empowering its employees and gain more from investors. Strategy and Development A strategy basically consists of a plan that is geared towards achieving certain goals (Wilkins, 2014). It can be used as a pattern in business where activities are run in a particular way. It is possible to be used as a ploy to beat competitors and can additionally be utilized as the perspective of the organization. Given that Cadence is customer oriented; products and services are tailored towards the wants of the customer in order to acquire maximum financial input. The company uses a low cost strategy to achieve its current goals. Basically, Cadence is not future oriented. The employees are indeed paid well with a flexible environment for working and leeway to leave the organization without as much as a hassle. Companies with a low cost strategy are inclined to adopt a style that is more commanding and controlling (Shapiro, 2013). They tend to closely monitor their employees and their activities and rarely delegate duties to the employees or empower the workers. Low cost and high quality strategy companies focus on the orientation of employees, which has a short time frame focus instead of looking to the prospect for new products and innovations (Yang, Kueng and Hong, 2015, p. 22) Companies that possess an innovation strategy hire employees who are more highly educated and provide more and better training to these professionals than those companies with a quality or low cost strategy. Firms with an innovation strategy and those with a high quality strategy tend to invest more in group decision and leadership training programs. This fact may be as a result of the need to facilitate joint decision-making and teamwork, since both types of strategies rely more on employee initiative than on direct managerial coordination and control (Yang, Kueng and Hong, 2015). National Context Due to the expansion and growth plans that most companies relish in the modern times, the rise of multinational corporations have become an incredible phenomenon (Elkington, 2013). As such, in order to achieve the production of the same type of quality service in all countries, set standards of operations have to be followed to the letter. This means that the company has to acquire a system where individuals work in the same consistent way, processes follow set standards and that practices are uniform throughout the companies in the different countries hence producing the same result (Hargroves, 2013). The achievement of such standards is difficult yet has been proven to work by companies such as McDonalds and Coca Cola. The companies follow total quality management which is the culmination of concepts of quality products, process control, quality assurance and quality improvement on a basis that is fragmented (Dumas, 2013). Total quality management is customer oriented. Inasmuch as training of employees is affected by the standards of the organization, the national standards have to be considered as there are general rules laid down for the practices in organizations. The Australian Qualifications Framework sets the quality of Australian qualifications (Young, 2016). Among the objectives of the AQF is to accommodate the different purposes that are present in the various education and training for the present and the future. This objective gives firms a flexible avenue to choose the type of training suitable for their company as long as the training is carried out. The existence of a foreign company in a country where career practices are different may strongly clash with the framework as the company may be forced to follow its own practices to achieve quality but at the same time break the law in the foreign country. Recommendations Based on the discussion, it is strongly recommended that companies empower their employees to develop their careers individually then relate them to the organizational goals to improve performance and productivity. Employees have the responsibility of being in charge of their careers but the organization needs to support them through career development programs. Conclusion In conclusion therefore, the discussion shows that career development is first noticed through the individual as they need to be career conscious to begin with. Most organizations have noticed the growing trend of career oriented individuals and are banking ad investing in it to help them achieve their goals. Based on the result of the BLCP career questionnaire and discussions with other individuals, it would be safe to assume that most employees want a boundaryless career and intend to grow in different organizations having their values set out first. Countries such as Australia have also focused on careers and training through creating a framework that establishes quality of education and training. These frameworks are equally present in other countries as more regions realize the importance of career development in the improvement of their nations. References Anderson, J.R., 2013. The architecture of cognition. Psychology Press. Billett, S., Choy, S., Dymock, D., Smith, R., Henderson, A., Tyler, M. and Kelly, A., 2015. Towards More Effective Continuing Education and Training for Australian Workers. National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). Briscoe, J. P., & Hall, D. T. (2005). Protean and boundaryless career assessment collection. Boston, MA: Unpublished, copyrighted scale collection Dumas, M., La Rosa, M., Mendling, J. and Reijers, H.A., 2013. Fundamentals of business process management (pp. I-XXVII). Heidelberg: Springer. Elkington, J. and Hartigan, P., 2013. The power of unreasonable people: How social entrepreneurs create markets that change the world. Harvard Business Press. Hargroves, K. and Smith, M.H., 2013. The natural advantage of nations: business opportunities, innovation and governance in the 21st century. Earthscan. Hughes, C. and Byrd, M., 2015. Managing Human Resource Development Programs: Current Issues and Evolving Trends. Palgrave Macmillan. Kirst-Ashman, K. and Hull Jr, G., 2014. Brooks/Cole Empowerment Series: Generalist Practice with Organizations and Communities. Cengage Learning. Knudsen, M.P. and Schleimer, S., 2015. Hiring, Developing, and Organizing Individual Employees for New Product Development versus Product-related Service Innovation. In DRUID 2015. Michael L. Litano, Debra A. Major Journal of Career Development February 2016 vol. 43 no. 1 52-65 Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA Parker, S.K., 2014. Beyond motivation: Job and work design for development, health, ambidexterity, and more. Annual review of psychology, 65, pp.661-691. Pinder, C.C., 2014. Work motivation in organizational behavior. Psychology Press. Robbins, S., Judge, T.A., Millett, B. and Boyle, M., 2013. Organisational behaviour. Pearson Higher Education AU. Sessa, V.I. and London, M., 2015. Continuous learning in organizations: Individual, group, and organizational perspectives. Psychology Press. Shapiro, C. and Varian, H.R., 2013. Information rules: a strategic guide to the network economy. Harvard Business Press. Wilkins, D.E., 2014. Practical planning: extending the classical AI planning paradigm. Morgan Kaufmann. Yang, M, Kueng, L & Hong, B 2015, 'Business strategy and the management of firms', NBER working paper series, January, pp. 1-40. Young, M. and Allais, S.M. eds., 2016. Implementing national qualifications frameworks across five continents. Routledge. Appendices Appendix I: BLC/P career questionnaire results Read More