Literature Review On Career Development Assessment Answer

Answer :

Career Development

1.0 Career Development

Bocciardi et al. (2017) stated that career development is a set of career-related programs designed to match the requirements, abilities as well as career goals of a particular individual with current & future opportunities in a specific company or organization. Career development always focuses on future opportunities and therefore it is a long-term orientation. The author also stated that the main objective of career development is to ensure that individuals with appropriate experiences and qualifications are available when needed. Moreover, career development is an essential aspect of career management with major emphasis being on the employee's career advancement which commensurate with the needs of the company (Bocciardi et al. 2017). The development of an individual's career is different from employee development through the development & training process. Employee development has intermediate & immediate-term orientation while on the other hand, career development has long-term orientation covering the entire work-life of a person.

Need & Importance of Career Development

Arthur et al. (2005) have defined career experiences as the evolving sequence of the work experience of time. However, with changes perspectives in career new definitions have emerged for reflecting the altered environment. For instance, Sullivan & Baruch (2009, p.45) have argued that career development incorporate the gathering of experiences both inside and outside the organisation that helps in overall progress of the lifespan of individuals. This view seems to be supported by Rossier et al. (2017), as they mentioned when a student completes his/her education from a college or a renowned university, the time comes for that student to peruse his/her career in their respective field. The development of an individual's career would keep that person from getting stuck in a rut. Moreover, the development sessions organized by the companies help the individuals to take responsibility for their weaknesses. A career development plan helps a person to define a future career path and take charge of their own advancement. On the contrary, Gyansah & Guantai (2018, p.40) have mentioned that career development plan should be different for each individuals as everybody have different issues at different stages of work lives and thus different views can be generated. Consequently, it can be mentioned that career development should be handled in significant manner as it is utmost important for prospering in the overall life span.  

Albay and Serbes (2017) have argued that it is significant for an individual to define a career goal statement which is some professional career objectives. A career goal statement can be developed with some action plans. These action plans need to be achieved or else the career goal statement will become baseless. In this regard, Gyansah & Guantai (2018, p.41) have mentioned that organisation are highly responsible for career development for the purpose of reaping high productivity.  The authors stated that the career goal statement developed by organisations is significant for an individual because it helps him/her to become clear about the career objectives and its strategies to accomplish it. Thus, development of statement would help to retain prime employees and bring overall development in the individual’s life as well as among the career.

Analysis of Career Development Theories

Theories like “Holland Theory”&“Theory of Work Adjustment” are significant for an individual to use it as tools to develop and strengthen the career. As per Leonard and Schimmel (2016), TWA or “Theory of Work Adjustment” is a career development model used to elaborate on the relationship of a person to his/her work environment. This theory was made according to the guiding framework for a program of research in vocational psychology. As per this theory, the work is abstracted as an interaction between a work environment and a person. Moreover, this theory states that the work environment needs that certain tasks to be performed and the skills needed to perform the tasks. Several researchers have supported this theory for identifying the differences between in the job outcomes with culturally diverse samples (Velez & Moradi, 2012). This theory stands for upholding the significance of workplace satisfaction to ensure that the employees remain in their workplace and focus on development of career (Lyons et al. 2014) Satisfactoriness & satisfaction result in tenure which the principal of work adjustment. However, tenure can be prophesied from the correspondence of the work environment & personality of a specific person. This theory also states that when a person acts on the work environment for the increment of correspondence, the adjustment mode is defined as active. When this kind of behaviour is distinctive, the person can be defined as active (Schimmel 2016). Consequently, individual transformations in the probability of using this adjustment mode are defined on a personality style dimension called activeness.

Fig 1: Holland’s Theory

(Source: Typology, 2020)

According to Sharif (2017), Holland's theory can be defined as the theory for determining an individual's career by developing interaction between the personality and work environment. This theory is focused on six personality types such as realistic, artistic, investigate, enterprising, social, and conventional. According to this theory, the individual must work with machines, hands, and active, tools, practical and adventurous. However, Maree and Che (2020) criticised that this theory does not provide insights into how a person develops a type of guidance for working with students. Nonetheless, Sheldon et al. (2020) have mentioned that the characteristic types developed in this theory are responsible for creating a work environment which can help in the process of career development. The person should apply their thought process, analytical approaches, experience, and knowledge in their own job. The authors further mentioned that this theory help the counsellors to encourage students to consider the career to match the specific code. The individual must be the literate, creative, and emotional type with open ideas. The person should develop verbal skills and make strategies to become the leader of the workplace. Holland's theory is intuitively appealing and it can be easily shared with students. Besides, it helps the students to get oriented to the words of work that isn’t overwhelming. 

1.1 Promotion

According to McClearyet al., (2017), promotion is the up-gradation of the position of an employee in the hierarchy system of a company. Promotion can be also be defined as the reward given to an employee for good performance in the workplace. The company checks the capability of an employee to handle added responsibilities before his/her promotion. Moreover, the organization performs screening tests & interviews and provides the employee on-job training sessions so that the specific employee can smoothly handle the added responsibilities after promotion. Promotion consists of position up-gradation along with the advancement of benefits & salaries. Some organizations have some exceptions and that is the type of job activities that may vary. The promotion of employees for the superiority in performance is significant to value their efforts as well as increase employee's motivation and morality. Baruch and Bibu (2018) stated that with the implementation of performance appraisal, the organizations measure or evaluate the performance of their respective employees. Besides that, these appraisals are considered a daily part of an employee's career development. If an employee receives a negative appraisal then that employee cannot get a promotion. Performance appraisal of an employee consists of accomplishments, achievements, strengths & weaknesses so that the entire results can be evaluated.

Factors that impact the promotion of employees

The promotion of employees in the workplace is significant for both the employees and the company. Career development of employees depends on some factors by which the probability of getting promotional opportunities can be measured. These factors are employee's performance level, employee's loyalty, competitive spirit, and employee resistance to sticking to the organization. One of the most significant benefits of employee promotion is that it aids the employee to acknowledge as well as recognize the hard work and performance and thus make them feel valued. Robbins et al., (2019) indicated thatpromotion develops the ambition and morality of employees and makes them work hard for the objective of the company as well as for the career development opportunities. When the employees of a specific company have a competitive spirit then a better team works for the betterment of both the organization and their career. This kind of competitive spirit is good for a company because it promises good performance and hence improves workplace productivity. 

Winston Churchill, the former Prime Minister of the UK quoted that "The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity where an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty". It means that work will be difficult at times but that is okay. Every individual or employee needs to complete the assigned work. If they panic over challenging hours, then they won't be able to complete the work and won't be provided with rewards and benefits. Every task an employee or an individual presents becomes an opportunity to make something great. Michael Martin Hammer, an American engineer at MIT quoted that “A successful career will no longer be about promotion. It will be about mastery”. The author tried to say that when an individual starts to receive continuous promotions, a time comes when that individual becomes the leader of an organization or a company, for example, CEO. This quotation signifies that an employee needs to grab the opportunities that suit him/her best so that the promotion and career development opportunities never stop.

Drawbacks of workplace promotion

Miah (2018) cited that promotion decrease the amount of recruiting fresh and skilled employees in the organization. Moreover, the promotion of internal employees could cause resentment among other employees. They may feel they deserve the post more than the promoted individual. In some organizations, the promotion is done politically which is a major drawback of those companies. A promotion causes the organization to experience a high or limited number of applicants during an employee's promotional events. Most of the internal applicants have been stagnant in their posts for long period and they will not definitelysubsidize any new ideas. The author also stated that promotion hardens negative attitudes of internal employees which cannot be changed later. The promotion also causes the employees to become lazy and instills over-confidence among them which negatively impacts the performance of the organization in the competitive market. Additionally, contagious negative behavior & habits by one negative employee can easily be passed on to the other divisions. 

Strategies to get promoted

Kathombe (2018) stated that an employee should set & communicate career goals and discuss his/her professional goals with the boss of the organization. The employees should be collaborative in nature and help the team members to make a project complete within the deadline provided. The author also indicated that a good employee volunteers his/her efforts before even being asked. They volunteer for responsibilities and tasks and not just because of instant rewards & benefits. Besides that, the employee should make itself irreplaceable. It means that the employee should upgrade his/her skills according to the changing trends in his/her particular field of market. The person should make itself specific, for example, the individual should stick to a particular designation like designing dynamic sales decks and upgrade in that field. Apart from sticking to a specific designation, the employee should take initiatives to improve and develop their skills by finding learning opportunities. 

1.2 Job-Specific Training

Lyons (2020) stated that job-specific training is comprised of all the physical tasks that the employee of a company will need to complete during their performances. The trainers of job-specific training sessions provide the demonstration of the training process in a step-by-step manner. When an employee is hired, they bring a wealth of skills, experience, and knowledge at the workplace. Job-specific training can be of two types like on-the-job and off-the-job. OJT or on-the-job is a program designed to aid the employees to gain knowledge in the workplace about their professions. This type of training consists of the involvement of employees using the resources available for them at their workplace. John F. Kennedy, the 35^th President of the US stated that "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other". The quote means that a leader cannot lead an organization, nation, or institution without the knowledge and a desire to learn &the leader must continue the learning process for maintaining the leadership position. Similarly, the employees of a specific company should have the desire to learn from the job-specific training sessions to grow their careers. Job-specific training can be developed at first by getting a picture of what training opportunities are offered now and what points are missing from the sessions. Second, the leaders take the responsibility to make an improvement in those areas where an employee lacks his/her skills.

As per the global survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, job-specific training acts as a key factor in staff loyalty. The survey pointed out that 85% of the employees firmly believe that job-specific training is significant in the workplace. Martin Naude, the CTO of Entelect indicated job-specific skills training programs are the most significant investments made by an organization. Naude also stated that the training of employees in their core functions, as well as specialized focused areas, will have the dual advantage of keeping the organization head of the rapidly changing industry. The employees rated 95% regarding the significance of opportunities to implement abilities & skills at the workplace in the SHRM survey. It means that the employees need more time to develop their own skills. These job programs provide robust job and process-specific qualifications for soft & hard skills. Dhawan (2016) cited that the systematic approach of job-specific training allows the organizational teams to create customized programs within small timeframes. Moreover, job-specific programs ensure to be thorough, reliable, and effective. Through this training process, the employees are able to improve their careers and build a new set of skills required to handle added responsibilities after promotion. 

Benefits & Drawbacks of job-specific training

According to Nazarchuk (2019), job-specific training sessions has some major benefits. At first, these training processes are easily applicable, i.e., there is no more wasted time for employees paging theirs through a dusty manual. Besides that, these training sessions are specific & focused on the requirements of the employees. Online learning courses helped the employees to get quick access to the training modules whenever they want. Secondly, these training sessions makes good money sense. Research states that employee training programs are expensive. It is true that the employees won’t turn down the opportunity to attend an expensive training conference in an exotic location. The training costs include training rooms, catering, traveling costs, and materials. At third, AI-based training sessions saves lots of time. For example, if a specific company is managing a large construction project which is under the zoning laws and ever-changing codes, the management can wrap that area in a geofence. It means when an employee will pass into that area, a push notification will inform the employee about any type of new changes made in the law. This makes the employee stay connected with the recent updates made in the projects. These types of cases do not need training sessions.

Mastriet al., (2018) indicated that job-specific training has some drawbacks. At first, these training processes have low productivity. The employee who is ready to be trained is taken at the actual work station for training purposes. Therefore, organizational productivity decreases with a low number of employees. Moreover, there are errors in production. The trainees can't get involved in the production activities due to their training sessions and so the probability of production errors becomes high. The author also indicated that OJT is costly. The products produced at the training activities have low quality and the chances of product damage become high. These all result in a higher cost of production. Besides that, disturbances arise during the work process as the apprentices are in the learning phase. However, the existing workers might feel disturbed due to the apprentices & the supervisors. At last, job-specific training is directly involved in the process of production that does not have an adequate amount of skills & knowledge of working with the provided materials and equipment. 

1.3 Careers Advisory Service

Bridgstocket al., (2019) cited that career advisory services are companies that offer guidance, advice, and counselling on an individual's careers. The individuals implement these services for purposes like changing careers, job hunting, developing new career skills, promotional purpose as well as returning to work after a professional development & career break. Moreover, these types of services employ professional guides, coaches, and career counselors for mentoring the clients. The author also mentioned that career coaching is a part of career advisory service and it offers a wide array of services to the individuals who are coping with the change and wants to explore new job opportunities. A career includes all types of employment extending from semi-skilled through skilled, and semiprofessional to professional. Besides, careers have often been restricted to an employment commitment to a single trade skill, profession, or business firm for the entire working life of an individual. In the modern age, a career now includes changes or adjustments in employment during a predictable future.The individuals who seek for career up-gradation through career advisory services must have to adopt various tools & techniques such as diagnostic questionnaires and tests, mock interviews, personality assessments, vision boards as well as CV writing workshops. 

As per Lim et al., (2019), career coaching programs are expanded over time to serve & meet the requirements of the individual candidates who are discouraged and confused by the ever-changing employment requirements. Besides that, this service provides services assistance in career planning and education and thus copes up with the work transitions. It includes career development, guidelines about starting a business, skill development, self-employment, job search strategy as well as entrepreneurial ventures. The individuals get help from career advisory services through cold calling and emailing to find new opportunities in the job sector. Companies like PWC are involved in providing career advisory services to individuals who are looking to expand their careers. The organizations should include a list of consulting services in their career advisory services such as strategic consulting, management consulting, technology consulting, and risk consulting. The list of consulting services will help the individual to decide their field where they will expand. The list of consulting services is described below:

Fig 2: Strategic Consulting

(Source: Consulting, 2020)

Strategic Consulting: Kraaijenbrink (2020) stated that strategic consulting aids the clients to seize their essential benefits by upgrading and developing business & corporate unite strategies. Moreover, these consulting services help the individuals to build different skills and capabilities they require to overtake their competitors. Innovative business solutions are also provided by the strategy consultants which are focused on the business and corporate strategy, operation strategy, technology strategy, and customer strategy. The organizations that perform strategic consulting are fragmented between those who do nothing.

Management Consulting: This type of consulting service aids the clients to translate the strategy into execution. As a result, the gap between the ideas and the outcome are closed and thus the company is transformed and achieves a tangible business outcome. The organizations having management consulting services include a group of business and management experts who aid the company with the provision of solutions for solving complex problems. Moreover, the management consultants of various organizations provide innovative solutions that mainly focus on the company's operation, merger & acquisitions, customer, human capital, marketing & sales, change management, and portfolio management. It can also provide suggestions like the execution of new technology or making a change in a particular process as well as the development & improvement of operational services.  

Risk Consulting: Vincenzo and Castellini (2019)indicated that risk consulting helps the clients to create a sustainable competitive advantage by means of taking and managing risks to become more resilient. Besides, the organizations that provide risk consulting services provide innovative solutions that focus on the risk factors across improved governance in risk management, enhance risk assessment procedures and controls, executive reporting, predictive risk analytics as well as monitoring functions.

Technology Consulting: This type of consulting service helps the members to explore innovative methods to aid the clients to transform their business through technology. Moreover, the companies that provide technology consulting services provide innovative ways focused on cloud computing, securing intellectual property, extracting value from enterprise data as well as systems from cyber-attacks. The technology consultants suggest software or hardware solution in the organization. As an example, a law firm that used to implement hard copy records can benefit from technology consulting that recommends the use of a software program. It can be mentioned that specific tasks also include execution of studies, making quality controls, inspecting the cost of the proposed solution, preparing the implementation, and implementing organizational accessing. Besides, tech consulting acts as an interface between the organization & it’s hardware and software suppliers.