Career Development: Whose Responsibility Is It?

Human Resource Development

IRHR3510 - University of Newcastle

Assessment 1

ESSAY

“Career development:

Whose responsibility is it?”

Introduction:

Career development refers to the “lifelong process of managing learning, work, leisure and transitions” (Parker, 2015). Employee career development is not only vital for the individual’s career but it is also an essential part of business survival strategies (Gololo, 2013).

In order to effectively address the question “Career development: Whose responsibility is it?”, this essay will consider the effects of changing business environment on the nature of career development. Research examples, such as Hall’s and Inkson’s articles, are useful in explaining the highly turbulent and complex business environment whilst also differentiating the role each person plays in a modern organisation. The idea of a protean career is essential in understanding whose responsibility one’s career development belongs to. The combination of the changing business environment, as well as the protean career approach to career development, will establish an essential foundation for this essay.

The empirical information gathered from a joint research paper conducted by the University of Phoenix in conjunction with EdAssist – “The Story Behind Career Development: Who is responsible?” helps to investigate the current trends within the workplace and how they are evolving. This study investigates managers’ and employees’ perceptions of whose responsibility it is to take control of the individual’s career development.

By studying a variety of other well renowned, peer-reviewed academic sources the responsibility of one’s career development is shown to be primarily the individuals. However, it is important to acknowledge the powerful influence the organisation’s assistance can have on, not only the individual’s career development, but also the success of the organisation itself and, in the long run, it’s future survival.

Changing business environment:

It is clear to everyone that the world is changing more rapidly than in previous generations. The business world in particular is evolving rapidly. As a result of this, organisations, employers and employees especially, are finding it difficult to distinguish the responsibilities and requirements of their role within this continually advancing environment. In “Protean Careers of the 21st Century”, Hall states that the “organisational career is dead, while the protean career is alive and flourishing” (Hall, 1996, p.8).  Therefore, to understand whose responsibility career development is, we need ask how the business environment has evolved and what a protean career is.

Long gone are the days of lifetime employment. It used to be the case that individuals were employed in an organisation, started from the bottom, worked hard, remained loyal, and eventually climbed the corporate ladder and therefore were rewarded with job security. This is no longer true in today’s business environment. According to Hall, the modern day career is evolving and is no longer being measured by chronological age but via continuous learning and identity changes (Hall, 1996). As outlined in the diagram below, the modern career can be identified as a compilation of short learning stages. Hall illustrates due to this dynamic environment, career age will be more valuable than chronological age (Hall, 1996). This means that it is the quality of the knowledge learnt is more valuable than the quantity of experience spent within a specific field.

[pic 1]

(Hall, 1996, p.9)

Having said this, it can be seen that the concept of lifetime employment has been replaced by the concept of lifetime employability (Hall, 1996). Lifetime employability is a modern approach to career development. Today’s current approach to career development stems from a concept known as Protean Careers – “a career driven by the individual, rather than the organisation” (Hall, 1996). The term ‘Protean’ has been derived from the tale of Greek god Proteus, the god that could change shape at will. The same characteristics can be used to describe the contemporary business environment we now find ourselves in (Inkson, 2006).

This modern view of the business environment can influence career development. It will demand that the individual reinvent themselves constantly, in response to the organisation and overall business environment changes (Inkson, 2006).  The protean career contrasts the historical ‘vertical success’ approach by introducing the concept of  ‘psychological success’. Days of ‘vertical success’ via career goals of climbing the corporate ladder have been replaced with ‘psychological success’ approaches in which include goals relating to the individual’s life in general; family and personal achievements (Inkson, 2006).

Similarly, Hall reiterates the importance of recognising that the working environment is changing, and so too are the demands in the labour market. The demands will ultimately shift to those with the “learn-how” rather than those with the “know-how”. At the same time the importance job employability with supersede that of job security (Hall, 1996).

Research suggests that a highly multifaceted and extremely turbulent business environment results in many contradictory career signals (Hall, 1996). As a result of this ambiguous environment, individuals are becoming uncertain in regards to their career development. This means that career development is a more complex issue that widely assumed. Therefore it is increasingly important for employers and employees become aware of this turbulent environment when addressing the issue of career development and whose responsibility it is.

The current trend within the work environment:

The question of who is responsible of an individual’s career development presents a constant struggle for the organisation and their employees alike.  Many say that everyone has an ongoing responsibility to actively engage in his or her own career development (Gololo, 2013). Meanwhile, others remain convinced the employers are to remain responsible for career development and employment opportunities (Cueni-Cohen, 2014). Although this issue is has been emerging for some time, it has been recently pushed to the forefront due to the increasing focus of protean career style approaches.