Career mobility within organizations: implications for career development part 2 a case study

Thomas N. Garavan Lecturer in Human Resource Development, University of Limerick, Ireland, and Michael Coolahan Electricity Supply Board, Limerick, Ireland
Focuses on career mobility and development in a large multi-disciplinary organization. Discusses a case study, analysing career opportunities of all employees in one organizational unit, concentrating on barriers to career mobility and the human resource development implications. Examines the existing internal labour market structure and uses information from an attitude survey within the organization. Discusses some critical issues which emerge and outlines a number of human resource development interventions which may remove career mobility barriers.

Introduction
In part two of this paper the focus is on exploring career mobility and career development within the context of a large multidisciplinary organization. Much of the literature on careers views the organization as some kind of Pandoras box and has focused instead on issues related to the individual. Where career mobility within the organization has been studied the focus has generally been on management careers. The case study discussed in this paper is unique in that it attempts to analyse the career opportunities experienced by all employees within a single organizational unit. The analysis concentrates specically on barriers to career mobility within a large multi-disciplinary organization and the human resource development (HRD) implications of such barriers. Particular emphasis is given to the internal labour market structure that exists and information is incorporated which draws on an attitude survey carried out within the organization and interviews with key organizational stakeholders. The article concludes by discussing some of the critical issues which emerge from the case study and outlines a number of HRD interventions that may be appropriate to remove the types of career mobility barriers which the case analysis illustrates.

The organizational context

The research site is a large semi-state organization in Ireland charged with the responsibility of providing and managing the generation and supply of electricity consistent with the needs of the Irish economy It is a verti. cally integrated company providing the full range of expertise and services required in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity Therefore from a human . resource viewpoint its skill and expertise requirements are multi-disciplinary . In the last ve years, in response to changes in its external environment and the need to reduce electricity prices and improve customer service, the organization carried out a

major reorganization and restructuring of its activities. These organizational changes have brought with them positive and negative outcomes. One of the most signicant negative impacts relates to staff numbers. From a peak of 13,290, employee numbers declined to 10,400 in 1991 with the current numbers standing at approximately 9,200. The organization is structured on a functional basis with an important distinction between the generation and distribution (sale of) electricity It is an extremely complex . organization, and it is for this reason that the authors have concentrated analysis of career mobility within a representative component of the company, i.e. West Region (Distribution) which employs a total staff of 600 (excluding part-time) as at December, 1994. In organizational life-cycle terms the research site is at the mature stage. Many aspects of its organization structure date back to the development of the electricity infrastructure in Ireland 50 years previously . Moreover, it is not uncommon to have staff retiring after 40 years service; in fact up to now the majority of employees have spent their entire working careers within the company . The organization operates with a complex technical-oriented culture. The generation and distribution of electricity demands a high level of technical skill and adherence to rules and procedures; safety of staff and customer is paramount. Functionalism has facilitated the specialization of tasks and on-thejob training necessary to ensure efficient operation of the organization. Table I shows the number of permanent staff recruited to the main promotional categories for the past six years. While recruitment has been signicantly reduced because of downsizing, the general trend was entry at the lowest grade in each job category .

Journal of European Industrial Training 20/5 [1996] 3139 MCB University Press [ISSN 0309-0590]

Structure of ILM within the organization

Functionalization has led to the development of four basic internal labour markets (ILMs): each having its own specic entry level

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Thomas N. Garavan and Michael Coolahan Career mobility within organizations: implications for career development part 2 a case study Journal of European Industrial Training 20/5 [1996] 3139

Table I Permanent staff promoted within the organization by grade Staff category Engineer Executive/administrative (business graduates) Clerical officers Electricians Trainee linesman Note: a denotes entry level grade Grade numbera 088 349 364 574 702 1989 23 11 8 7 4 1990 40 12 36 11 4 1991 53 15 45 13 1 1992 56 14 39 19 1993 52 14 34 18 1 1994 50 12 30 14 2

requirements, promotional criteria, etc. These ILMs are characteristic of the four main staff categories within the organization: engineer, clerical/admin., accounting,

technical and non-technical. Figure 1 shows the shape of the internal labour markets. The non-technical ILM is generally not seen as a promotional category although some

Figure 1 The specic internal labour markets

Electricians Electrical supervisors Energy services officer Engineering officer Special technical scale Customer Marketing service manager manager Transport Personnel Technical manager manager manager Engineers Regional manager

Technician

Approved

External recruit

Basic Customer services engineers Energy services engineers Line Planning station engineers engineers

Apprentice

Linesmen/general workmen/drivers Lines supervisors Ganger Chargehand scale 2 Chargehand scale 1 Linesman External recruits

Accounting administrators Regional manager Accounting manager Accountants Accounting supervisors Accounting administrators Clerical officer, level 4 Business graduate recruits

Personnel manager

Trainee Transport driver Senior driver Driver Clerical officer, level 1

General workman Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1

Clerical officer, level 3 Clerical officer, level 2

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Thomas N. Garavan and Michael Coolahan Career mobility within organizations: implications for career development part 2 a case study Journal of European Industrial Training 20/5 [1996] 3139

movement is possible between general workman, storekeeper, driver and trainee linesman. Development of the technical ILM owes much to the skill specicity of the jobs included and the need to set and maintain standards of technical performance and training which by and large could only be provided on the job. Over the years this ILM has subdivided into a number of categories as representative trade unions (TUs) won demarcation concessions and ne distinctions developed between various tasks. Within the West Region this ILM is represented by technical supervisors (line and electrical), energy services officers, engineering officers, technologists, lineman, craft and craft electrician subcategories. Recruitment is generally at apprentice/trainee level. Engineers are recruited as graduates exclusively to ll middle management positions and thereafter can anticipate a career ranging from middle manager to chief executive. The clerical/admin. accounting staff are recruited either with graduate (business or other related degree) or second level qualications (the majority) and can equally aspire to a vertical career. In fact the present and

previous chief executives came from this ILM.

Mobility within the internal labour market

Having established the existence of ILMs within the organization, their impact on mobility and career attainment will now be examined. Figure 1 shows a clear line of promotion (job ladder) for the four main categories of worker with very little horizontal movement between ladders. Figure 1 also illustrates the lines of promotion for the four main categories of staff. The overall picture is one of very little horizontal movement between ladders. Each job ladder is represented by powerful TU interests which, over the years, have dened and maintained job ladder boundaries within the context of individually negotiated category agreements on issues such as pay and promotion. Figure 2 shows the ILM for the division. The primary labour market encompasses two dominant hierarchies as represented by the engineering and clerical/accounting admin. job ladders. While horizontal mobility occurs at senior manager level, both ladders feature privileged, unlimited access to vertical promotion beyond the regional hierarchy to positions within the corporate hierarchy .

Figure 2 Internal labour market for the division Corporate HQ

Manager west region

Primary labour market

Engineering managers Engineers

Personnel manager

Accounts manager
Accountants

Personnel officers

Secondary labour market

Lines supervisors

Emergency service officers

Engineering officers

Electrical supervisors

Accounting supervisors

Electricians Linesmen Stores

Clerical officers

General workmen

Drivers

Clerical officers Apprentices

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Thomas N. Garavan and Michael Coolahan Career mobility within organizations: implications for career development part 2 a case study Journal of European Industrial Training 20/5 [1996] 3139

Job ladders within the secondary labour market on the other hand are constrained both vertically and horizontally i.e. a technical supervisor (line or electrical) cannot apply for a customer services engineer position even though the work specications are broadly similar. Equally an electrical supervisor cannot compete for a higher grade line supervisors position and vice-versa. Analysis of grade progressions for the unit under study shows that out of 198 upwards movements: Eighty-two were automatic progressions in accordance with category agreements for technical, non-technical and clerical staffs involving no increase in responsibility . Seventeen were within portfolio category promotions and did not necessarily involve increased responsibilities. Nine appointments resulting from internal vacancies occurring within different job ladders. Successful promotees originated within the respective ILMs and although the positions were open to applicants from the wider organization, all appointees were existing members of the West Region staff. This experience concurs with that of Creedy and Whiteld[1] in terms of measuring internal mobility and Deprete[2] who found that successful appointees are likely to come from the same job ladder and the same location as the vacancy . Job ladder design was cited in part one of this paper as a signicant constraining factor on career mobility Figure 3 shows that 94 per . cent of linesmen, 87 per cent of electricians and 79 per cent of clerical/accounting staffs hold non-supervisory/management positions. On this evidence alone, promotional prospects are poor. However, although widely accepted within the organization to be the case, analysis of grade distributions in other regions needs to be carried out in order to prove the point empirically . It is acknowledged that within the collectively agreed ILM structure, a limited number of job ladders are open to all job categories. However, apart from personnel services such job ladders are located at corporate headquarters.

lack of education, job ladders, family, life style consideration and dual career families. From the organizational viewpoint the frustrations of staff in relation to career mobility were captured by an in-house training and development task force which studied strategic human resource management (HRM)/HRD issues within the organization. The following were highlighted: The lack of an effective performance management system which is exacerbating inequality of opportunity . The rigidity of ILM structures which is frustrating employees in acquiring knowledge of the business. The lack of a comprehensive career management system or structured development policy which is inhibiting the personal development of employees. Management ownership of training and development which is perceived to be weak. The informality of the succession planning process which is a negative inuence. The shrinking organization structure, downsizing and the pyramid squeeze which is limiting career opportunity for existing staff. Age prole: there is a bottleneck in the critical age group 35-44. Figure 4 illustrates the age prole for the organization. The functional nature of the business leads to the development of specialist rather than general managers. The development of organizational subcultures which do not recognize job ladders in the secondary labour market as an opportunity structure. One important issue which emerged from the staff survey, was that questions relating to career issues were answered negatively by a majority of respondents across all levels, including managers. The notion, that objective career success (i.e. hierarchical success) does not correlate with career satisfaction is explained by Gattiker and Larwood[3] who point out that people have their own internal perspectives and may regard themselves as failures when it comes to subjective career success, and particularly career satisfaction.

Views of the main stakeholders to mobility and barrier removal

Management
The organizations corporate policy and beliefs in relation to human resources issues is reected in an Employee Charter. This commits the organization to barrier removal and equal opportunity for all staff through a range of interventions, namely: Wider access to training and development for all staff consistent with individual and

Barriers to career mobility within the organization

From the individual perspective, it can be posited that the organizations staff represent a microcosm of Irish society and therefore career attainment is likely to be affected by considerations discussed in part one of this paper: social class determinants, incongruent career choice, career anchors/self-concepts,

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Thomas N. Garavan and Michael Coolahan Career mobility within organizations: implications for career development part 2 a case study Journal of European Industrial Training 20/5 [1996] 3139

Figure 3 Job ladders for different categories of staff

Grade Personnel numbers Percentage Percentile

11 14 16 17 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 28 29 33

Portfolio 1

Portfolio 2

Portfolio 3

Total

1 1 2 1 4 3 5 9 4 6 37 1 19 34 127

0.8 0.8 1.6 0.8 3.15 2.3 3.9 7 3.15 4.7 29 0.8 15 27

0 1.6 3.2 4 7.15 9.45 13.35 20.35 23.5 28.2 57.2 58 73 100

(a) Grade levels: clerical, executive, accounting

Personnel numbers Percentage Percentile

Grade

10 11 13 14 15 16 17 19

Engineering managers portfolio Engineers portfolio

Total

1 2 3 3 2 4 3 1 19

5 11 16 16 11 20 16 5

0 10 32 48 59 79 95 100

(b) Grade levels: engineers

Grade

Personnel numbers Percentage

Percentile

20 21 22 25 26 27 29 35

Supervisors portfolio

Total

1 6 3 1 18 55 69 3 156

0.64 3.85 1.9 0.64 11.5 35.3 44.23 1.94

0 4.49 6.39 7.03 18.53 53.83 98.06 100

(c) Grade levels: linesmen, line supervisors

Personnel numbers Percentage

Grade

Percentile

21 Total apprentices (d) Grade levels: electrical supervisors, electricians [ 35 ]

18 19 20 21 23 25 28 31 36

Supervisors portfolio

3 3 10 5 37 47 26 6 137

2.2 2.2 7.3 3.6 27 34.3 19 4.4

0 4.4 9.7 13.3 40.3 74.6 93.6 100

Thomas N. Garavan and Michael Coolahan Career mobility within organizations: implications for career development part 2 a case study Journal of European Industrial Training 20/5 [1996] 3139

organizational needs, i.e. supervisory and management development programmes, training needs analysis. Educational support policy; tuition reimbursement. Introduction of computer-based learning centres. Equal opportunities training for staff. Job rotation without portfolio restrictions. Individual training and development plans. For example, mentors are assigned to new graduates within a fast tracking programme to overcome the rigidities of the organization structure. Negotiations with TUs in relation to barrier removal.

Secondary labour market TUs (ETU and AT & GWU) on the other hand seem to have a problem with the quid pro quo concept, i.e. while each union felt that supervisors should legitimately be able to aspire to an engineers position, they would have difficulty in accepting that an engineer could hold a supervisory position. Both unions made reference to a hidden agenda on the part of management. They perceived that barrier removal would provide the opportunity for management to introduce engineers lower down in the hierarchy including the elimination of demarcation and the introduction of multi-tasking.

A senior management representative pointed out that career mobility and barrier removal must be consistent with the business needs and the maintenance of professionalism of the organization. This raises the question of what formal credentials are deemed necessary to compete for particular positions in the hierarchy and how ability to perform the task plus job experience will be recognized. It is generally accepted that the conservative nature of the organization and the risk in changing what is perceived to be a successful formula would likely act against giving effect to cross-functional managerial or upward supervisory moves.

The human resource function response

In essence, the career system within the organization is dominated by a vertical mobility value. Horizontal moves are generally perceived as suspect unless offering the prospect of upward advancement; downward moves are regarded as punishment or failure. Notwithstanding, the HRM/HRD interventions introduced by the organization and the probability that management will reach agreement with the TUs regarding inter-job ladder movement, considerable barriers to career attainment will continue to exist for reasons of: the pyramid structure of the organization, the need for downsizing and the age prole of staff; downsizing; the age prole of staff. Moreover, the emphasis on overcoming individual factors which impede career mobility will lead to unrealistic career expectations on behalf of employees, expectations which for the majority cannot be fullled. Indeed, as Garavan[4] points out this can be one of the major problems associated with career development activities. The human resource function is of the view that the purpose of career development is to provide an alignment between the abilities, ambitions and motivations of employees and the human resource requirements of organizations, the latter being dictated by business needs.

Trade unions
All four TUs interviewed expressed acceptance of the principle of barrier removal. Primary labour market TUs (MSF and ESBOA) felt that they had most to lose by allowing access to their respective job ladders and stressed that the quid pro quo with other categories should apply .

Figure 4 Age prole of staff Percentage of staff by category in age group 30 Key Officer 25 Craft and general 20 15 10 5 0 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 Age (years) [ 36 ]

Key lessons emerging from the case study

Strategic career management
The case study illustrates that the nature of work is changing within organizations, even long established organizations. Employees are now expected to be more exible which entails acquiring different skills from those previously required by organizations. The analysis also illustrates that there are fewer

Thomas N. Garavan and Michael Coolahan Career mobility within organizations: implications for career development part 2 a case study Journal of European Industrial Training 20/5 [1996] 3139

levels in the organizational hierarchy than before so promotion is harder to achieve. Pay will continue to be more likely based on value in ones current role than ones level in the organization. Herriot[5] suggests that these changes present considerable challenges for career management systems in organizations. He describes these challenges as balancing acts. Four such acts are relevant in this context: 1 Adaptability vs. support: organizations will require people to be adaptable. However, in order to achieve this the organization must be willing to support employees who have to make radical job changes. 2 Loyalty vs. respect for individuality: the evidence suggests that organizations are more likely to continue to want loyalty from core employees. This does, however, require a sensitivity to the work preferences and skills of employees. Arnold et al.[6] suggest that while employees may be adaptable they are not entirely interchangeable. Certain individuals are better suited to particular tasks. 3 Knowledge/skills vs. recognition/tolerance: the analysis suggests that organizations need to make full use of employee knowledge and skills. This does, however, require the organization to reward its staff for their knowledge and skills and at the same time tolerate their allegiances to professional values and standards. These allegiances may at times present conicts in terms of priorities within the organization. 4 Feedback vs. trust/autonomy: the research evidence suggests that organizations like the one described are increasingly reliant on information about their customers and markets obtained by employees in direct contact with the organizations customers. Herriot[5] suggests that for employees to volunteer this information, the organization must show faith in their judgement and give them the freedom to make appropriate decisions. Approaches to career development necessitated by these potential conicts and others identied in the case study require organizations to manage careers strategically Mayo[7] . advocates the appointment of a career manager who will integrate information about individual employees with organizational policies and plans and oversee the use of a wide range of career management interventions such as career planning workshops, individual counselling, career development appraisals and development centres. Garavan[4,8] suggests that this alignment of

individual and organizational dimensions is best achieved when career development is approached within a framework which integrates career planning and career management in a strategic way The former involves . the employee assessing career opportunities consistent with personal interest, abilities, motivation, life stage and planning developmental opportunities to achieve these goals. The latter involves the alignment of this process with organizational needs and the provision by the organization of resources and activities which facilitate the achievement of these mutual objectives. Garavan[4], also argues that career development must be further integrated with wider HRM activities including human resource planning. In this way, employees will become more aware of potential career paths, the choices, barriers, constraints, opportunities they have in achieving career goals and what their future in the organization holds. Given the interventions introduced in the organization studies it is suggested that two further interventions are needed to provide a reality check for employees, namely: Acceptance by line managers of the need to play an increasing role in the career development of their subordinates. Acceptance by staff of the need to introduce a performance appraisal procedure which is linked to the reward system and integrated with career management. Notwithstanding the foregoing, one of the characteristics of the modern organization is that no matter how hard people work, their promotional potential is nite. The organization studied is no different in this regard.

Career planning
The phenomenon wherein an employees career has dead ended is referred to in the literature in less emotive terms as plateauing. Goffee and Scase[9] dene it as the point in a persons career when further hierarchical promotion is unlikely Plateauing is one of . the major challenges facing organizations today and is well illustrated in the case study . Nicholson[10] points out that with many organizations reducing the number of levels in their management hierarchy and disbanding well-established career routes, many people are nding themselves in jobs for much longer than they had anticipated. Bardwick[11] makes the distinction between structural plateauing and content plateauing. While organizations are powerless in relation to solving the former, there are a number of options available in relation to the latter. These include, lateral transfer, assignments, cross-functional

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Thomas N. Garavan and Michael Coolahan Career mobility within organizations: implications for career development part 2 a case study Journal of European Industrial Training 20/5 [1996] 3139

projects, increased responsibility, broadening of skills and expertise. The literature tends to assume that the plateaued employee is unhappy about this situation and that this unhappiness is likely to result in negative work attitudes and low performance levels. Goffee and Scace[9] suggest that this pattern does often happen. However, Nicholson[10] and Bray et al.[12] demonstrate that employees are often able to reduce their ambitions quite painlessly Plateauing . may be something that an employee is reconciled to by the time it happens. Savery[13], argues that plateauing is neither good nor bad, and that some employees may not perceive plateauing negatively because they have no further interest in hierarchical advancement, i.e. that promotion is not an integral part of job satisfaction for all employees. A high proportion of employees within the organization studied have reached a plateau stage in their careers, particularly because of the functional nature of the organization. The dysfunctional consequences of plateauing are a source of concern to the organization and include withdrawal from the organization, reduced commitment, higher levels of job dissatisfaction, reduced self-esteem and selfrespect on the part of employees. In addition, employees have tended to seek recognition in activities outside the organization. It follows therefore that the primacy of vertical careers needs to be challenged since it is likely to be experienced by only a minority of workers in the organization of the future. However, within organizations of the type studied the development and acceptance of the horizontal career concept will demand a major cultural shift in both employee and organizational values. Bardwick[11] suggests that the importance of promotions is lessened by reducing the number of hierarchical levels, i.e. the more horizontal the organization, the greater the distribution of decision-making power, and therefore the greater the number of positions with signicant responsibilities. With the atter organization there is less emphasis on vertical movement and more on intrinsic job factors, and where employees can grow in expertise, receive greater challenges and responsibility with their current jobs. Beatty and Ulrich[14] argue that mature organizations like the one studied must face and overcome the renewal challenge to avoid going into decline. To achieve renewal, they must recognize how work is done and create work cultures consistent with customer demands. They propose a ve-level framework leading to strategic cultural change and

posit that the biggest problem is changing the mindset of employees at all levels of an organization.

The perception of the organizations career development practices

The analysis illustrates a certain degree of negativity on the part of employees vis--vis career development practices adopted by the organization. Some groups of employees had problems with the accuracy, validity, fairness and usefulness of the techniques used. This raises an important issue for the HRD. How does it ensure that its career development practices are valued by employees? Mabey and Iles[15] suggest that career development activities, to be valued, must: be prospective rather than retrospective in nature. This requires a focus on future actions and plans as well as present activities. Career development activities must provide opportunities for the development of insights, positive attitudes and new skills; have a catalytic dimension in that they promote personal reection, greater selfinsight and a stimulus for personal growth; allow for collaboration. Employees must have a signicant input into the process of judgement making and be involved in action planning; enable employees to be able to make connections between the criteria they are being assessed against and the way career development activities relate to the job and organization. They also want to see a link between feedback and personal development activities; be anchored in the reality of the organization including its policies and systems of power and inuence. This can be achieved by the involvement of line managers and by linking career planning activities to organizational objectives and strategies.

References
1 Creedy, J. and Whiteld, K., Earnings and job mobility over the life cycle: internal and external processes, International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 9 No. 2, 1988, pp. 8-16. 2 Deprete, T.A., Horizontal and vertical mobility in organisations, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 32, September 1987, pp. 422-44. 3 Gattiker, U.E. and Larwood, L., Predictors for managers career mobility, success and satisfaction, Human Relations, Vol. 41 No. 8, 1988, pp. 569-91. 4 Garavan, T.N., Promoting strategic career development activities: some Irish experience, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 22 No. 6, 1990, pp. 17-24.

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Thomas N. Garavan and Michael Coolahan Career mobility within organizations: implications for career development part 2 a case study Journal of European Industrial Training 20/5 [1996] 3139

5 Herriot, P., The Career Management Challenge, Sage, London, 1992. 6 Arnold, J., Cooper, C.L. and Robertson, I.T., Work Psychology: Understanding Human Behaviour in the Workplace, 2nd ed., Pitman Publishing, London, 1995. 7 Mayo, A., Managing Careers, Institute for Personnel and Development, London, 1991. 8 Garavan, T.N., Strategic human resource development, Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 15, 1991, pp. 17-30. 9 Goffee, R. and Scase, R., Organisational change and the corporate career: the restructuring of managers job aspirations, Human Relations, Vol. 45, 1992, pp. 363-86. 10 Nicholson, M., Purgatory or place of safety? The managerial plateau and organisational age-grading, Human Relations, Vol. 46, 1993, pp. 1369-90.

11 Bardwick, J., The seasons of a womans life, in McGuigan, D. (Ed.), Womens Lives: New Theory, Research & Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 1980. 12 Bray, D.W., Campbell, R.J. and Grant, D.L., Formative Years in Business, John Wiley, Chichester, 1974. 13 Savery, L.K., Managing plateaued employees, Management Decision (UK), Vol. 28 No. 3, 1990, pp. 46-50. 14 Beatty, W.B. and Ulrich, D.O., Re-energising the mature organisation, Organisational Dynamics, Summer 1991, pp. 16-30. 15 Mabey, C. and Iles, P., Career development practices in the UK: a participant perspective, in Mabey, C. and Iles, P. (Eds), Managing Learning, Routledge, London, 1995.

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