CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING

Career development is essential to implement career plan. Career development consists of personal improvements undertaken by the individual employee, training, developmental and educational programmes provided by the organisation and various institutes. The most important aspect of career development is that every employee must accept his responsibility for development. Various career development actions prove useful if an employee is committed to career development. The career development actions are:

• Job performance: Employee must prove that his performance on the job is to the level of standards established, if he wants career progress.
• Exposure: Employees’ desire for career progress should expose their skills, knowledge, qualifications, achievements, performance etc., to those who take the decisions about career progress.
• Resignations: Employees may resign the present job in the organisation, if they find that career opportunities elsewhere are better than those of the present progress.
• Change of job: Employees who put organisational loyalty above career loyalty may change the job in the same organisation if they find that career opportunities in other jobs in the same organisation are better than those in the present job.
• Career guidance: Counselling provides information, advice and encouragement to switch over to other career or organisation, where career opportunities are better.

Thus, there are two types of employee mobility in career development actions. They are internal and external mobility.

a) Internal Mobility vs External Mobility: External mobility refers to movement of an employee from one organisation to another seeking better placement based on his skills and the requirements and needs of various organisations. Employees resort to external mobility techniques and the organisation resort to external candidates when the chances of suitable placement on either side or both the sides are non-existent within an organisation. An employee prefers internal mobility as long as he is sure of getting suitable placement/employment within the organisation. Similarly, organisations may resort to internal mobility until they find suitable candidate for different jobs.

b) Need for Internal Mobility: Basically internal mobility is necessary to match the employee’ skill and requirements within the requirements of the job and those of the organisation continuously. Internal mobility is needed because of the following reasons:

1. Changes in job structure, job design, job grouping etc.

2. Changes in technology, mechanisation etc. , resulting in enhancement of job demands.

3. Expansion and diversification of production/operations.

4. Adding different lines of auxiliary and supportive activities.

5. Taking up of geographical expansion and diversification.

6. Introduction of creative and innovative ideas in all the areas of management resulting in increased job demands.

7. Chances in employee skill, knowledge, ability aptitude, values etc.

8. Changing demands of trade unions regarding protecting the interests of their members.

9. Changing government role in human resources management.

10. National economic and business trends and their impact on job design and demands.

11. Problem of maintenance of interpersonal relations and sound human relations.

12. Social and religious conditions of the employees of the region.

c) Purposes of Internal Mobility: The purpose of internal mobility are:

i) to improve the effectiveness of the organisation,

ii) to maximise the employee efficiency,

iii) to ensure discipline, and

iv) to adopt organisational changes.

i) To improve the effectiveness of the organisation: The organisational effectiveness depends largely on how well the policies, programmes and procedures are implemented in actual practice, which in turn depends on suitability of employee’s skill, knowledge, commitment etc., to the job requirements. Employees suitability to the job requirements can be mostly secured through proper placement and job reassignment to internal employees as and when vacancies occur. Employees contribution and commitment would be maximum to the organisation when they are placed in the right job. This right placement, in addition to other factors contributes much to improve the organisational effectiveness.

ii) To maximise employee efficiency: The employees existing skill, knowledge etc. , can be aptly utilised when a proper job is assigned to him besides other factors. Upward job assignment to an employee certainly helps in motivating the employee, boosting his morale and improving his commitment to the job and organisation in addition to utilising the skills of higher order which were highly to unutilised. Even horizontal mobility of employee helps in reassigning the job were employees skill can be better utilised. Thus the internal mobility helps for optimum utilisation of employee skills and in turn maximise employee efficiency through motivation.

iii) To ensure discipline: Discipline is highly essential to implement the programmes in right time and in correct manner. Demotions can be used to ensure discipline and to correct the wrong placements and job assignments.

iv) To adopt to organisational changes: Organisational changes include operational changes like changes in production levels and schedules, market levels, share, schedule and direction, economic changes like inflation and deflation, changes in technology, expansion, diversification, geographical spread etc. All these organisational changes should be met by proper job reassignment to the existing employees. Promotions meet the demand for higher order skills, transfers meet the demand for any adjustment in the same or similar level of skills, knowledge etc., whilst demotions meet the demand of the depression.

Regards

Manish Dwivedi