The chapter discusses several special challenges in career management that companies may face: 1) Designing effective socialization and orientation programs to help new employees adjust and be productive more quickly. 2) Developing dual career paths to provide opportunities for advancement for both technical/professional employees as well as managers. 3) Addressing issues like plateaued careers, skills obsolescence, and balancing work and personal life, which can affect employee motivation and retention. 4) Outlining policies and strategies to help employees through transitions like job loss or retirement. The document provides an overview of these topics and considerations for companies in developing effective programs and policies to address these challenges.

1. 12 - 1
Chapter
12
Special Challenges in Career
Management
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Objectives
12 - 2
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Design an effective socialization program for
employees.
Discuss why a dual-career path is necessary for
professional and managerial employees.
Provide advice on how to help a plateaued
employee.
Develop policies to help employees and the
company avoid technical obsolescence.
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

3. 12 - 3
Objectives (continued)
5.
6.
7.
Develop policies to help employees deal with
work-and-life conflict.
Select and design outplacement strategies that
minimize the negative effects on displaced
employees and “survivors.”
Explain why retirees may be valuable as parttime employees.
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

4. 12 - 4
Introduction
Many companies in Silicon Valley face serious
career management challenges.
 These companies are now paying more attention to
career management issues because their work
force is starting to age and pay more attention to
work-life balance.
 Many employees face long commutes because
they can not afford to live close to where they
work.

Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

5. 12 - 5
Introduction (continued)
If companies do not help their
employees with their personal
lives, they may leave for jobs
with other companies in other
areas that do.
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

6. 12 - 6
Special Challenges in Career Management
Socialization and
Orientation
Dealing With
Older Workers
Coping With Job
Loss
Dual-Career Paths
Balancing Work
and Life
Plateauing
Work and Non-work
Policies
Skills
Obsolescence
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7. 12 - 7
Socialization and Orientation
 Organizational
socialization is the process by
which new employees are transformed into
effective members of the company.
 The
purpose of orientation is to:
 Prepare
employees to perform their jobs effectively
 Learn about the organization
 Establish work relationships
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

8. 12 - 8
Phases of the Socialization Process
Anticipatory Socialization
Encounter
Settling In
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

9. What Employees Should Learn and
Develop Through Socialization:
History
12 - 9
Company Goals
Language
Politics
Performance
Proficiency
People
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

10. 12 - 10
Socialization and Orientation Programs
Play an important role in socializing employees.
 Effective socialization programs result in
employees having a strong commitment and
loyalty to the company.

 This
reduces turnover.
Effective orientation programs include active
involvement of the new employee.
 Effective programs have peers, managers, and
senior co-workers actively involved.

Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

11. 12 - 11
Content of Orientation Programs

Company-Level Information
Company overview
Key policies and procedures
Compensation
Employee benefits & services
Safety & accident protection
Employee & union relations
Physical facilities
Economic factors
Customer relations

Department-Level Information
Department functions
Job duties & responsibilities
Policies, procedures, rules
Performance expectations
Tour of department
Introduction to co-workers

Miscellaneous
Community
Housing
Family adjustment
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

12. 12 - 12
Characteristics of Effective Orientation Programs
Employees are encouraged to ask questions.
 Program includes information on both technical and
social aspects of the job.
 Orientation is the responsibility of the new employee’s
manager.
 Debasing and embarrassing new employees is avoided.
 Formal and informal interactions with managers and
peers occur.
 Programs involve relocation assistance.
 Employees receive information about the company’s
products, services, and customers.

Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

13. 12 - 13
Dual-Career Paths
A career path is a sequence of job positions
involving similar types of work and skills that
employees move through in the company.
 For companies with professional employees, a key
issue is how to ensure that they feel they are
valued.
 The traditional career path model has limited
advancement opportunities for those in the
technical career path.

Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

14. 12 - 14
Traditional career path for scientists and
managers:
Assistant Director
Assistant Director
Principal Research Scientist
Department Manager
Research Scientist
Manager
Scientist
Assistant Manager
Individual Contributor Career Path
Management Career Path
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

15. 12 - 15
A dual-career-path
system enables
employees to remain in a
technical career path or
move into a management
career path.
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

16. Example of a dual-career-path system
12 - 16
Executives
Fellow
Functional
Management
Senior Technical
Staff Member
Senior
Senior
Development
Advisory
Project
Staff
MANAGEMENT LADDER
TECHNICAL LADDER
Senior Associate
Associate
Engineers, Programmers,
Scientists
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

17. 12 - 17
Characteristics of Effective Career Paths
Salary, status, and incentives for technical
employees compare favorably with those of
managers.
 Individual contributors’ base salary may be lower
than managers’, but they are given opportunities to
increase their total compensation through bonuses.
 The individual contributor career path is not used
to satisfy poor performers who have no managerial
potential.

Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

18. 12 - 18
Characteristics of Effective Career Paths
(continued)
The career path is for employees with outstanding
technical skills.
 Individual contributors are given the opportunity
to choose their career path.

 The
company provides assessment resources.
 Assessment information enables employees to make
comparisons between their interests and abilities
with those of employees in technical and
managerial positions.
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

19. 12 - 19
Plateauing
Plateauing means that the likelihood of the
employee receiving future job assignments with
increased responsibility is low.
 Mid-career employees are most likely to plateau.
 Plateauing becomes dysfunctional when the
employee feels stuck in a job that offers no
potential for personal growth.
 Such frustration results in poor job attitude,
increased absenteeism, and poor job performance.

Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

20. 12 - 20
Reasons Employees Can Plateau
Discrimination based on age, gender, or race.
 Lack of ability.
 Lack of training.
 Low need for achievement.
 Unfair pay decisions or dissatisfaction with pay
raises.
 Confusion about job responsibilities.
 Slow company growth resulting in reduced
development opportunities.

Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

21. 12 - 21
Possible Remedies for Plateaued Employees

Employee understands the reasons for plateau.

Employee is encouraged to participate in
development activities.

Employee is encouraged to seek career counseling.

Employee reality-tests his solutions.
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

22. 12 - 22
Skills Obsolescence
Obsolescence – a reduction in an employee’s
competence resulting from a lack of knowledge of
new work processes, techniques, and technologies
that have developed since the employee completed
her education.
 Not just a concern of technical and professional
occupations. All employees are at risk.
 Obsolescence needs to be avoided if companies
are trying to become learning organizations.

Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

23. 12 - 23
Factors Related to Updating Skills
Company Climate
Manager
• Emphasis on Continuous Learning
• Provide Challenging Work Assignments
• Encourage Employees to Acquire New Skills
Updated
Skills
Peers
Reward System
• Discuss Ideas
• Sabbaticals
• Share Information
• Pay for New Ideas
• Pay for Employee Development
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

24. 12 - 24
Balancing Work and Life
Families with a working husband, homemaker
wife, and two or more children account for only 7
percent of American families.
 The increasing number of two-career couples and
single heads of households creates a challenge for
companies.
 Companies have to carefully consider how to
manage employees who are simultaneously
meeting the needs of both work and family.

Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

25. 12 - 25
Balancing Work and Life (continued)
 There
are two roles that training can play in
balancing work and non-work.
 Trainers
and managers may be responsible
for developing policies and procedures.
 Trainers may be responsible for developing
training programs to teach managers their
role in administering and overseeing the use
of work-life policies.
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

26. 12 - 26
Types of Work-Life Conflict
Time-based Conflict
Strain-based Conflict
Behavior-based Conflict
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

27. 12 - 27
Company Policies to Accommodate
Work and Non-work:
 Communicating information about work
and non-work policies and job demands.
 Flexibility in work arrangements and work
schedules.
 Redesigning jobs.
 Support Services.
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

28. 12 - 28
For job sharing to be effective:






The impact of job sharing on clients and customers must
be determined.
The employee interested in job sharing must find another
employee performing the same job who wants reduced
work hours.
The two people sharing the job need to have similar work
values and motivations.
The manager must actively communicate with the jobsharing employees.
All schedules and work assignments need coordination.
Performance measurement should be both team and
individual.
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

29. 12 - 29
Coping With Job Loss
Important career management issue because of the
increased use of downsizing to deal with excess
employees resulting from corporate restructuring,
mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers.
 Companies that lay off employees can experience
lowered job commitment, distrust of management,
and difficulties recruiting new employees.
 Job loss causes stress and disrupts the personal
lives of laid-off employees.

Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

30. 12 - 30
Coping With Job Loss (continued)
 From
a career management standpoint,
companies and managers have two major
responsibilities:
 They
are responsible for helping employees who
will lose their jobs.
 Steps must be taken to ensure that the “survivors”
of the layoff (remaining employees) remain
productive and committed to the organization.
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

31. 12 - 31
Coping With Job Loss: Outplacement

Companies need to provide outplacement services
to help prepare employees for layoffs:
 Advance
warning and explanation for a layoff.
 Psychological, financial, and career counseling.
 Assessment of skills and interests.
 Job campaign services.
 Job banks.
 Electronic delivery of job openings.
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

32. 12 - 32
Dealing With Older Workers
 Meeting
the needs of older workers.
 Pre-retirement
socialization.
 Retirement.
 Early
retirement programs.
Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

33. 12 - 33
Meeting the Needs of Older Workers
Flexibility in scheduling to allow for care of sick
spouses, return to school, travel, or reduced work
hours.
 Older workers should receive the training they need
to avoid skill obsolescence.
 Older employees need resources and referral help
that addresses long-term care and elder care.
 Companies need to ensure that employees do not
hold inappropriate stereotypes about older
employees.

Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.