11-1 EXCEL

BOOKS
Chapter

11

CAREER AND
SUCCESSION
PLANNING
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ANNOTATED OUTLINE

The concept of career

A career comprises of a series of work related activities, that offer continuity,
order and meaning to a person’s life. The underlying idea behind a career is
that a person can shape his destiny through a number of well planned and
well timed, positive steps. The success of one’s career, therefore, depends
on the individual more than anything else.

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Career: Important features

 A career develops over time

 The success of one's career depends, most often, on one's own careful
planning and timely steps taken at a right time
 The important element in one's career is experiencing psychological success.
The typical career of a person today would probably include many positions and
transitions.

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Career stages

A career includes many positions, stages and transitions just as a

person’s life does.
H ig h
E x p lo r a t io n E s t a b lis h - M id c a r e e r L a te c a re e r D e c l in e
m ent
P e r fo r m a n c e

F r o m c o lle g e F ir s t jo b W ill p e r f o r m a n c e T h e e ld e r P r e p a r in g
to w o rk a n d b e in g in c re a s e o r s ta te s p e rs o n fo r
a c c e p te d b e g in to r e tire m e n t
d e c lin e ?

L o w 25 35 50 60 70
Age

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Career stages

 Exploration: the transition that occurs in mid-twenties as one looks at

work after college education, seeking answer to various questions
about careers from teachers, friends etc.
 Establishment: this is the stage where one begins the search for
work,picks up the first job, commits mistakes and learns thereafter.
 Mid-career: Between 35 and 50 one is typically confronted with a
plateaued career, where your maturity and experience are still valued but
there is the nagging feeling of having lost the initial fire in the belly
 Late career: This is the stage where one relaxes a bit and plays an
elderly role, offering advice to younger ones as to how to avoid career
mistakes and grow continually.
 Decline: This is the stage where one is constantly reminded of
retirement, after a series of hits and misses.

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Career anchors

These are distinct patterns of self-perceived talents, attitudes,

motives and values that guide and stabilise a person’s career after
several years of real world experiences.

More about eight career anchors

 Managerial competence
 Technical competence
 Security
 Creativity
 Autonomy
 Dedication to a cause
 Pure challenge
 Life style

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Career planning

Career planning is the process by which one selects career goals and
the path to achieve those goals. Career planning, it should be noted
here, is a prerequisite to effective human resource planning.

Why career planning?

Career planning seeks to meet the following objectives

 Attract and retain talent

 Use human resources properly and achieve greater productivity
 Reduce employee turnover
 Improve employee morale and motivation
 Meet the current and future human resource needs of the organisation

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The process of career planning

 Identify individual needs and aspirations

 Analyse career opportunities
 Align employee needs with available career opportunities
 Develop action plans
 Carry out periodic review

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Career Development

Career development consists of the personal actions one undertakes to

achieve a career plan. The actions for career development may be initiated
by the individual himself or by the organisation

Individual career development: Some of the important steps that could help
employees achieve their career goals could be listed thus;

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Individual career development

 Performance
 Exposure
 Networking
 Leveraging
 Loyalty
 Mentors and sponsors
 Key subordinates
 Expanding capabilities over time

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Career self assessment instrument

N a m e .......... ...... .................. ............ ...... .................. ............... A g e .......... ...... .................. ..... ..
D e p a r tm e n t ......... ............ ..... ...
P a r t A V a lu e s a n d E x p e r ie n c e s
1 . D e s c r ib e t h e r o le s in y o u r life th a t a r e im p o r t a n t t o y o u ( w o r k lif e , f a m i ly lif e , r e lig io u s li f e ,
c o m m u n it y li f e e t c . ) . E x p l a in w h y t h e s e r o le s a r e im p o r t a n t t o y o u . I n d i c a t e h o w t h e s e r o l e s
im p a c t y o u r to ta l life s a tis fa c t io n . A s s ig n a p e r c e n t to e a c h r o le ( 0 to 1 0 0 p e r c e n t) s o th a t th e
t o ta l a d d s u p to 1 0 0 p e r c e n t.
2 . D e s c r ib e y o u r e d u c a tio n a l b a c k g ro u n d , in c lu d in g th e d e g r e e s e a r n e d , a c a d e m ic s t r e n g th s
a n d w e a k n e s s e s , e x tr a c u r r ic u la r a c tiv itie s e t c .
D e g r e e s /D ip lo m a s A c a d e m ic S tr e n g th s A c a d e m ic E x t r a c u r r ic u la r
W ea kne sses A c tiv it ie s
1 1 1 1
2 2 2 2
3 3 3 3
3 . L is t a n y jo b s y o u h e ld a nd y o u r e x p e r i e n c e in e a c h p o s it io n
O c c u p a tio n Job D e g re e o f W h a t I L in k e d W hat I W hy I
s p e c ia lis a tio n D is lik e d L e ft

1 .
2 .
3 .
4 .
5 .

4 . D e s c r ib e a n y s k i lls ( r a n k 1 t o 5 ( lo w e s t t o h ig h e s t ) t h a t y o u p o s s e s s
a. C o m m u n ic a tio n 1 2 3 4 5
b. L e a d e r s h ip 1 2 3 4 5
c. I n te r p e r s o n a l 1 2 3 4 5
d. T e a m b u ild in g 1 2 3 4 5
e. C r e a tiv ity 1 2 3 4 5
f. T e c h n ic a l 1 2 3 4 5
( T i c k t h e m o s t a p p r o p r ia t e o n e )
5. S u m m a r is e a n y r e c o g n itio n /a w a r d s t h a t y o u h a v e r e c e iv e d in r e la t io n t o y o u r e d u c a tio n ,
w o r k e x p e r i e n c e , s k i lls o r e x t r a c u r r i c u l a r a c t iv iti e s .
Pa rt B . C a re e r G o a ls , W o rk A ttitu d e s a n d P re fe re n c e s
1. T h e m o s t im p o r t a n t n e e d s I w a n t t o s a t is fy in m y c a r e e r a r e
a
b
c
2. T h e s e n e e d s c a n b e f u l f i l l e d i n t h e f o l lo w in g :
A re a s S k ills / A s s is ta n c e n e e d e d
a: a:
b: b:

C o n td . . .
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Career self assessment instrument

c: c:
3 . H o w im p o r t a n t a r e t h e s e v a lu e s to y o u in y o u r w o r k ( I m o s t im p o r ta n t : 1 0 le a s t im p o r t a n t)
V a lu e s R ank
1 . In d e p e n d e n c e o r a u to n o m y -
2 . F in a n c ia l r e w a r d s -
3 . S e n s e o f a c h ie v e m e n t -
4 . H e lp in g o th e r s -
5 . C r e a t in g s o m e t h in g -
6 . J o b s e c u rity -
7 . G o o d w o r k in g c o n d itio n s -
8 . F r i e n d s h ip s a t w o r k -
9 . V a r ie ty o f ta s k s -
1 0 . E q u a lit y a n d fa ir n e s s -
4. W h a t e v e r j o b I h a n d l e , I d o n o t w i s h t o c o m p r o m i s e o n t h e f o ll o w i n g
1: 4:
2: 5:
3: 6:
5 . W h a t in t e r n a l a n d e x te r n a l c o n s t r a in t s m ig h t y o u e n c o u n t e r a lo n g th e w a y t o w a r d a c h ie v e m e n t
o f y o u r c a re e r g o a ls ?
6 . L is t t h e s p e c i f ic j o b s th a t m ig h t b e i n li n e w i t h t h e a b o v e r e q u ir e m e n t s
a
b
c
7 . F in a lly , r a t e y o u r s e lf o n e a c h o f t h e f o llo w in g p e r s o n a l q u a litie s o r w o r k c h a r a c t e r is tic s .
W r i t e o n e r e s p o n s e f o r e a c h c h a r a c t e r i s t ic ( u s i n g t h e f o l lo w i n g s c a l e : 1 . v e r y l o w , 2 . l o w ,
3 . a v e r a g e , 4 . h ig h , 5 . v e r y h ig h )
a. E m o t io n a l m a t u r it y f . D e p e n d a b il it y in c o m p l e t i n g w o r k
b. I n i t ia t iv e / I n d e p e n d e n c e g . F le x i b i l it y a n d o p e n m in d e d n e s s
c. P u n c tu a lity h . P e r s e v e r a n c e /w illin g n e s s to w o r k
d. A b il i t y t o h a n d l e c o n f l i c t I. A b i l i t y t o s e t a n d a c h i e v e g o a l s
e. A b il i t y t o p l a n , o r g a n is e
a n d d e t e r m in e w o rk p rio ritie s

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Career Development

 Organisational career development: organisations could help promote

individual careers through a series of well planned moves. These include:

Organisational career development

1 Self assessment tools such as holding a career planning workshop, circulation
of a career work book in advance etc.
2. Individual counselling
3. Information services
 job posting system
 skills inventory
 career ladders and career paths
 career resource centre

Cont…

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Career Development

4. Employee assessment programmes

 Assessment centres
 Psychological tests
 Promotability forecasts
 Succession planning
5. Employee developmental programmes
6. Career programmes for special groups

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Career Management

Career management includes both organisational actions and

individual efforts aimed at setting career goals, formulating and
implementing strategies and monitoring the results.

The career management model

In d iv id u a l C a re e r
P la n n in g C a re e r
 A ssess needs D e v e lo p m e n t
 A n a ly s e c a r e e r o p p o r t u n it ie s
 S e t c a r e e r g o a ls  H o w i n d iv i d u a l s c a n r e a c h t h e t o p ?
 D e v e lo p a c t io n p la n s  H o w o rg a n is a tio n s c a n h e lp ?
 S e lf - a s s e s s m e n t t o o ls
O r g a n is a t io n a l C a r e e r
 I n d iv id u a l c o u n s e llin g
P la n n in g
 I n f o r m a t io n s e r v i c e s
 A s s e s s h u m a n re s o u rc e  A s s e s s m e n t p ro g ra m m e s
r e q u ir e m e n t s  D e v e lo p m e n t p r o g r a m m e s
 C a r e e r p a th s fo r e a c h p e rs o n  P r o g r a m m e s f o r s p e c ia l g r o u p s
 In te g ra te c a re e r g o a ls a n d
o r g a n is a t io n a l n e e d s
 In iti a t e c a r e e r d e v e l o p m e n t e ff o r t s

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Advantages And Limitations Of

Career Planning
Career planning offers significant benefits to both the individual and the
organisation. The employee has advance knowledge of available career
opportunities. He or she can set appropriate career goals and plan to
achieve them over a period of time. Organisations, too, can separate the
stars from the mediocre and reward the efforts of those who are hard
working and talented. This would, in turn, improve employer-employee
relations. On the negative side, for small scale units, career planning may
prove to be a difficult and costly exercise. Sometimes, local laws, union
pressures could upset career planning efforts. Not every company would
be able to resolve all career related issues successfully.

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Effective Career Planning

Effective career planning depends on a number of factors such as

Effective career planning

 Ensuring top management support
 Setting appropriate corporate goals for human resources
 Offering rewards for good performance
 Placing employees depending on their talents, career aspirations etc
 Laying down suitable career paths for all employees
 Monitoring continuously to find where the organisation stands
 Giving publicity to career related issues and actions

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Succession Planning

The basic purpose of succession planning is to identify and develop people to

replace current job holders in key positions. Through succession planning
organisations ensure a steady flow of internal talent to fill important
vacancies. Succession planning encourages “hiring from within” and creates
a healthy environment where employees have careers and not merely jobs. It
should be noted here that career planning (which covers executives at all
levels), by its very nature, includes succession planning (which covers key
positions at higher levels)

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Replacement Chart

A replacement chart is a visual representation of who will replace whom if

there is a job opening
D e p a rtm e n t : F in a n c e D a te :
P re p a re d B y :

R e p l a c e m e n t S u m m a r y f o r ‘S e n i o r E q u it y A n a ly s t ’
S e n io r E q u it y A n a ly s t J o b h o ld e r : R a ja R a m A ge : 59
O p e n in g : In 3 Ye a rs R eason : R e t ir e m e n t
R a ja R a m ( 5 9 )
S a la r y G r a d e : 2 5 ,0 0 0 - 3 5 ,0 0 0 E x p e rie n c e : 1 2 Y e a rs
A 1 R a ja t G u p ta (4 4 )
C a n d id a t e 1
B 1 S h y a m L a l (3 8 )
N am e : R a ja t Age : 4 4 Y e a rs
C h a r t f o r 2 p o s it io n s

D e s i g n a t io n : E q u it y A n a ly s t E x p e r ie n c e : 6 Y e a rs
P e rfo rm a n c e : O u ts ta n d in g R eason : ‘S t a r ’ in th e d e p t.
G ra d e : 1 8 ,0 0 0 - 2 5 ,0 0 0 P r o m o t- : R e a d y n o w fo r
a b ili t y p ro m o tio n
C a n d id a t e 2
N am e : S hyam Lal Age : 3 8 Y e a rs
B o n d S p e c ia l is t
D e s i g n a t io n : E q u it y A n a ly s t E x p e r ie n c e : 3 Y e a r s
N ir m a la ( 3 1 ) P e rfo r m a n c e : O u ts ta n d in g R eason : N e e d s m o re
e x p e rie n c e
A 1 B a lr a j S in g h ( 2 6 ) G ra d e : 1 3 ,0 0 0 - 1 8 ,0 0 0 P r o m o t- : C a n w a it f o r
B 1 N e e la m ( 2 8 ) a b ili t y 2 Ye a rs

E x p l a n a t io n s :
A . R e a d y f o r p r o m o t io n 1. O u t s t a n d in g p e r f o r m a n c e
B. N e e d s m o r e e x p e r ie n c e 2. A c c e p t a b le p e r fo r m a n c e
C. N o t s u it a b le f o r jo b 3. P o o r p e r fo rm a n c e

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Succession Management

Succession management focuses attention on creating and stocking

pools of candidates with high leadership potential. It assures that key
people are not just identified but also nurtured and developed into
future leadership roles
Steps in succession management
 Identifying the shortage of leadership skills and defining the requirements
 Identifying potential successors for critical positions
 Coaching and grooming the 'star performers'

The interesting case of BAJAJ AUTO

 Arm your successor
 Begin at the edges
 Start succession early
 Prepare the organisation.

Career And Succession Planning