Career & Management Development

15 Pages 3760 Words

Introduction

The following essay is divided in two parts. In the first part we are going to examine the changing context of careers in today’s ongoing transforming world of employment and the impact that this change has on the career and management development of organisations. In the second part a more personal current situation of my state of career is going to be described.

Part a)

Some definitions of a career…

Everyone has their own perception about what the term “career” connotes. Most of us have in mind a “ladder” that leads to occupational success. A literature review will be helpful to be aware of some important definitions.

According to Hall (1976) a career is the individually perceived chain of attitudes and behaviours associated with work-related experiences and actions over the span of the individual’s life.

A very similar definition is that “a career is the evolving sequence of a person’s work experience over time.” (Arthur et al, 1989)

A definition that is not solely work focused is the following: “career is viewed broadly to stress life roles and life styles, occupation being considered only one part of career.” (Hansen and Gysbers, 1975)

Career theory involves concentration on two aspects. The first is the individually focused or subjective career which is based on an individual’s perception of working life and the second is the organizationally focused or objective career, which is based on the career ladder. (Wees and Jansen, 1994)

Career and management development: its meaning

We can easily understand that career development is referred to the way that careers are managed in organisations. According to the CIPD (2004), career development is “the design and implementation of organisational processes that enable the careers of individual employees to be managed in a way that encompasses organisational and individual career perspectives”. (www.cipd.co.uk)
�...