Learning and Development: An Integrative Part of My Career Path - Essay Example

Learning and Development: An Integrative Part of My Career Path Planning a career path is not easy. This becomes harder in a world that gets increasingly complicated at a faster pace. Everyday practically brings out new knowledge, new discoveries, new technology, new changes, which mean new challenges. Just like how the emergence of new technology has caused significant changes in needed job skills, tasks and roles resulting to the restructuring of work systems, for example the use of work teams (Noe 2002, p. 20). Employment needs constantly change, consequently making employment highly competitive. ‘Career paths have become increasingly varied, fluid and emergent as people make career decisions within a highly dynamic organizational, societal and global economic milieu’ Carter, Cook and Dorsey’s (2009, p. 12). As such, learning and development should be an integrative part in planning my career path to place me in the right track and to keep me always a valuable asset to my industry. In fact in the hospitality industry, hotels, themselves, aim to become learning organizations through constant coaching and self-development at all levels that one of the essential job descriptions of hotel employees is no other than for them to ensure their own learning and development; more than that, employees should ensure that what they learn is of high quality standards (Andrews 2009, p. 179). In short, employees are responsible for their own learning and development. They owe it first and foremost to their selves because today learning and development defines the future of employees in the organization; perhaps, this is true not only to employees but to organizations, themselves. Clearly so, learning and development is essential in defining one’s career path. Why this is so is the heart of this paper. To put matters in the right perspective, important terms, such as career, career path, career planning and development, and learning and development need to be defined. Career is viewed differently by many people. In fact according to Adams (1991, p. 3-5) since the 1960s defining this term has been a topic of many researches, yet until today, no single definition has been agreed upon. Nonetheless, Adams cited four basic definitions from which the term career can be understood. First, a career is viewed in relation to advancement. Meaning, a career is perceived as a sequence of upward or broadened movements in an employment’s hierarchical ladder during the time of one’s work life. Second, career is perceived in relation to a profession that allows promotions and advancements. Thus jobs not allowing this are not considered as careers. So, to work as a contractual waiter in a food chain is not a career because it does not allow you to be promoted; it is simply a job by which you earn a living. But to work as a regular hotel staff is considered a career because this may bring you to higher steps of the ladder. Third, a career is viewed in relation to one’s lifelong earned work history. Within this premise, all working people could acquire work histories and therefore have careers. Lastly, career is more broadly perceived in relation to life process. It is a lifelong string of an individual’s role-related experiences including roles occupying a significant amount of time outside employment (i.e., being a mother, being a spouse, being a community leader). Although these four definitions focus on different things, to me, they similarly say one thing; that career is through which we exercise our worth as a person and achieve stability in our lives. This may explain the undesirable feelings that usually come with unemployment or retrenchment. Understanding one’s worth in life is a profound task that entails a lifelong process which to some could be a matter of luck or a hit and miss process. Since a career essentially defines the kind of life we live, defining and planning our career path becomes vital. But what is a career path? A career path, Durai (2010, p. 193) defines, is ‘the systematic and deliberate advancement made by an individual in his career in the entire work life’. He furthers that career path is formed and influenced by various factors like knowledge, skills, ability and opportunities. He also classified career path into the general career path, which pertains to that of the organization, and the individual career path, which pertains to that of the individual employees. In both classifications, career path is designed based on analyses made on the job in the structure of the organization, on the individual employee’s knowledge, skills, and ability, and on the available opportunities at hand. In short, Budhathoki (2004, p. 100) explains, a career path is the means by which career goals are achieved. As such, he furthers that a career path is intertwined with career planning – The process by which an individual’s career goals are matched with the available breaks and openings in the organization. It involves ‘a very systematic and comprehensive process of targeting career development and implementation of strategies, self-assessment and analysis of opportunities and evaluate the results’. (Antoniu 2010, p. 14) Thus ‘Career planning facilitates the employees to develop not only their career goals but also the ways to achieve these goals’ (Durai 2010, p. 92). To become successful in any career, relevant skills and knowledge are employed. Essential therefore to the achievement of career goals is learning and development – Terms widely used today as rapid-paced changes demand a focus-shift from the trainer to the learner and the effect of learning on the learner’s performance. Meaning, what is given more emphasis today is no longer content delivery but the development of learning capabilities. (Clifford & Thorpe 2007, p. 8) Therefore, acquiring knowledge is not enough; what is needed in a fast changing world that is driven by rapidly evolving information and technology is to know how to know what should be known. Meaning, individual employees should be capacitated with the necessary tools for analysis, critical thinking, problem solving skills and practical application to enable them deal effectively with the changes going around them. As Corrie, Hurton and Lane (2008, p. 17) explain, ‘In today’s rapidly evolving world it can no longer be assumed that the knowledge gained in an initial training is sufficient to guarantee effective practice in the longer-term’. Suffice it to say that career path development is a lifelong process of learning and development. In this context, I should say that learning and development will be an integrative part of my career path as these will help me better plan for my career path. First, as a living individual, I am dynamic. Change occurs in me every day, affecting my perceptions, preferences, perspectives and aspirations. For example after graduating from college, my goal will be simply to land a job, because that is the only possibility I could see for myself. But once I landed a job, I will start to learn more about it and the industry as a whole. As I perform my job, I will become familiar to it and will later become adept to it. Then I will begin to aspire for more, most probably to seek for promotion, for better position or for greater opportunities. However, this will only become possible if I integrate learning and development in my career path, because it is through learning my job through training that I can become adept to it, consequently develop me into a better employee and most likely making me an asset valuable perhaps not only to the organization I am in but also to the industry as a whole. Also, it is through learning my everyday work experiences that I will come to understand the other aspects and openings of the industry. This will broaden my perspective. As my perspective is broadened, planning my career path will also be broadened. In short I can only define my career path and effectively plan about it if I learned my job well, because it is in learning it that I am developed and it is only in being developed that I can best determine my career goal – my anchor in planning my career path. Second, as rapid technological innovations are continuously globalizing the world and causing dramatic changes in workplaces, to keep abreast with the rapidly changing demands of the industry is vital to be competitive and remain valuable and relevant. To do so entails continuous learning and development. Not only is knowledge changing, but even the methods of acquiring these are also changing. Thus continuously learning how to learn is now the name of the game. Learning does not stop in acquiring knowledge or information; it is just the beginning. What is learned should be put in practice, because practice concretely proves learning, as it enables personal and organizational development. This in turn will provide a new source of knowledge. In short, learning and development are inseparable. Learning creates development; whereas, development reinforces learning. So, integrating learning and development in planning my career path can put me in the right perspective. Having the right perspective will most likely make my career path planning effective and achievable. Third, as life continuously unfolds, so are job opportunities. To seize job opportunities, learning and development should be taken as a continuous spiraling process. Thus even my plan for my career path should be examined from time to time if it still remains feasible and effective or if it is already obsolete. So, integrating learning and development in planning my career path will help me ensure that my career path plan is responding to the changing needs of the industry, thus keeping me in track. On final note I would say; to not invest in learning and development is tantamount to planning to go out of job. Reference List Adams, J 1991, ‘Issues in the management of careers’, in RF Morrison & J Adams (eds.) Contemporary career development issues, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New Jersey. Andrews, S 2009, Human resource management: A text book for the hospitality industry, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing, New Delhi. Antoniu, E 2010, ‘Career planning process and its role in human resource development’, Annals of the University of Petroşani, Economics, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 13-22. Budhathoki, DK 2005, ‘Human resource management: Career development’, The Journal of Nepalese Studies, vol. I, no. 1, pp. 99-100. Carter, GW, Cook, KW & Dorsey, DW 2009, Career paths: Charting courses to success for organizations and their employees, John Wiley & Sons, UK. Clifford, J & Thorpe, S 2007, Workplace learning and development: Delivering competitive advantage for your organization, Kogan Page, UK & US. Corrie, S, Hurton, N & Lane, DA 2008, ‘How to develop your career and organize your continuing professional development’, in S Palmer & R Bor (eds.) The practitioner’s handbook, Sage Publications, London. Durai, P (2010), Human resource management, Dorling Kindersley, New Delhi, India. Noe, RE 2002, Employee training and development, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, US. Read More