Career and Succession Planning:-
The Concept of Career:-
According to Edwin Flippo, “ A career is a sequence of separate but related work activities that provide continuity, order and meaning to a person’s life.
It is not merely a series of work-related experiences, but consists of a series of properly sequenced role experiences leading to an increasing level of responsibility, status, power and rewards. It is not an end in itself, but a process of development of human resources. In short, it is an essential aspect of effective management of people at work.
Features:-
1) A career refers to different jobs a person hold over his or her life-time.
2) The process & activities that prepare one for a job are parts of a career.
3) Job related activities, values & beliefs are integral aspects of a career.
4) The relationship of a person’s self-identity to work is a dimension of a career.
For Example:- a young graduate may decide to follow the career of a professional manager & lay down the following career plan:
Post graduation : 22 years
Management Trainee : 22 years
Asstt. Manager : 25 years
Deputy Manager : 30 years
Manager : 35 years
Deputy General Manager : 40 years
General Manager : 45 years.
Career Planning:-
It is a process by which one fixes career goals & lays down the path to these goals as shown in above illustration. Its purpose is to provide continuity, order & meaning to a person’s life. But from organisation point of view, career planning means helping employees to plan their career in terms of their capacities with in context of organisation’s needs. It involves designing an organisation of career movement & growth opportunities for employees from employment stage to retirement stage. It is a managerial technique for mapping out the entire career of your employees.
The main features of career planning are-
1) It is a process of developing human resources.
2) It is not an end in itself but a means of managing people to obtain optimum results.
3) It is a continous process & not an event.
4) Its basic aim is integration of individual & organisational needs.
Need and Objectives of Career Planning:-
(i) To attract qualified & competent persons & to retain them in the organisation.
(ii) To provide suitable promotional opportunities to present work force.
(iii) To enable employees to develop & make them ready to meet future challenges.
(iv) To correct employee placement.
(v) To increase utilisation of managerial reserves with in an organisation.
(vi) To improve motivation & morale of employees.
(vii) To reduce employee dissatisfaction and turnover.
(viii) To maintain age balance while taking employees up career path.
Advantages:-
(1) Career planning helps the individual have knowledge of various career opportunities, his priorities etc.
(2) It helps him select the career which is suitable to his life style, preference, family environment, scope for self-development etc.
(3) If helps the organisation identify talented employees who can be promoted.
(4) Internal promotions, upgradation, & transfers motivate employees, and thus their result increases because it increase their satisfaction.
(5) Each employee will await his turn of promotion rather than changing to another organisation. This would lower employee turnover.
(6) It improves employees performance on the job by tapping their potential abilities & stimulating their personal growth.
(7) Increased job satisfaction enhances employee commitment & creates a sense of belongingness & loyalty to organisation.
(8) It contributes towards individual development & organisational development & effective achievement of corporate goals.
Limitations:-
(1) It is not suitable for small organisations.
(2) It may not be effective for long period because in a developing country like India, changes in environmental factors such as governmental policy, public sector development, growth of backward areas etc. influence business & industry.
(3) Systematic career planning might become difficult due to favourtism &nepotism in promotions, political intervention in a appointments etc.
(4) Some careers do not have scope for much advancement. Employees cannot get promotions despite their career plans & development in such jobs.
(5) Career opportunities for certain categories reach the declining stage due to influence of technological or economic factors. Solution for such a problem is career shift. For example, career opportunities for ‘statisticians’ declined due to computerisation. The existing statisticians can overcome this problem by acquiring skills in computer operation.
(6) Interaction of career issues with the issues of life stage of the employee and his family, changing needs of employee through out his life cycle complicate the career issues.