CAREER AND HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (DCE3117) Associate Prof. Dr. Roziah Mohd Rasdi Dept. of Professional Development & Continuing Education Faculty of Educational Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia roziah_m@upm.edu.my

The Dynamic Nature of Career Management Topic 5 The Dynamic Nature of Career Management

Transition One primary attribute of career system changes – the existence of horizontal links that transcend organizational and system boundaries, including geographical ones. The new career system would best fit those who have the competencies – mostly proactive and have enough knowledge and skills. Organization nowadays, cannot offer any longer a commitment and loyal-based relationship, thus moving to a transactional relationship or trying to generate relational relationships based on transformational leadership.

Transition One of the novel ideas of developing transactional relationship is the concept of employability. Employability offers people a different kind of psychological contract so that they will feel a fair deal exists. However, Baruch (2001) argue that employability will benefits individuals, but can hardly serve as a substitute for loyalty in the organizational side of the equation.

From: Traditional career system, organizational focused To: Contemporary career, individual focused Figure 5. The transformation of career planning

Figure 5.2 The transformation of recruitment From: Traditional recruitment flow system recruitment done mostly at the operation level To: Contemporary recruitment multi-level labour market, internal and external sourcing Figure 5.2 The transformation of recruitment

Figure 5.3 The transformation of the industrial relation system To: - New psychological contract - Individual negotiation shared by the individual and the organization From: The Dunlop (1959) model of IR: Trade Union-led collective bargaining Market Government Power Input Output Employees and representatives Employees and representatives Technology Feedback Figure 5.3 The transformation of the industrial relation system

Impact: After Before Flexibility Short-term planning Aligned HR Risk management Delphi approach New psychological contracts Aims Stability Means Long-term planning Responsive HR Asset management Linear modeling Collective bargaining Key factors Competitive markets Globalization New value system Move from production to service HR cost Litigious society Figure 5.4 The transformation of strategic HR planning an emergent model

Perpetual Motion The term ‘Survivor Syndrome’ has been coined to refer to and describe the reaction of people who remain in employment after an organization has undergone a redundancy or downsizing programme. Scholars have suggested a multitude of negative consequences of survivor syndrome: Anger Anxiety Cynicism Resentment Resignation Retribution Burnout Low morale and etc.

How to Manage the Survivor Syndrome Mishra, Spreitzer and Mishra (1998) have suggested the following: Deciding: use downsizing as a last option; construct a credible vision, based on the business case; and ensure downsizing is not seen as a short-term fix. Planning: form a cross-functional team, who are agreed on the reasons for downsizing, identify all constituents and address their concerns, use experts such as outplacement counselors to smooth the transition, provide training to managers and supply adequate information on the state of the business.

Making the announcement: explain the business rationale, announce the decision, notify employees in advance where possible, be specific, time the announcement appropriately, offer employees the day off. Implementing the decisions: tell the truth and even over-communicate, provide job search assistance for leavers, announce subsequent separations planned, be fair in implementing separations, be generous to leavers, allow for voluntary separation, involve employees in implementation, provide career counseling and train the survivors where necessary.

Baruch and Hind (1999) argue that, although detailed, the above list is lacking in two respects. It consists of a set of separate, dissociated issues, and does not provide a coherent, comprehensive framework. Several key elements are missing. In downsizing, the selection needs to be based on clear, performances and operational-related criteria, with obvious links to the business case and rationale. ‘Best Practice’ should be implemented in managing downsizing.

Figure 5.5 Downsizing and the survivor syndrome effect Nowadays there is no re-freezing, as situations remain fluid with change being the only constant. Hind, Frost, and Rowley (1997) found that, for most people working in groups in organizations team membership rarely remains stable for longer than four months with a resultant lack of experienced stability for members. Therefore, stability is no longer perceived as a realistically desired target. Figure 5.5 suggest a sequence that organizations should anticipate in managing survivor syndrome effect. Figure 5.5 Downsizing and the survivor syndrome effect

Figure 5.5 Downsizing and the survivor syndrome effect The first stage is characterized by relative stability and traditional psychological contract. If an organization has managed to maintain a feeling of stability and the ‘Old Deal’, any deviation will cause survivor syndrome. The following stage is characterized by perpetual change, which recognized by both employees an management. The organization should develop a new psychological contract. The next stage is using ‘best practice’. Organization can avoid the survivor syndrome only if they met all the three-precondition Figure 5.5 Downsizing and the survivor syndrome effect

What is the ‘best practice’ Regarding downsizing, the advice for organizations is to use redundancy only as a last resort. It is advisable to prove to or show employees that it was indeed the last resort, after all feasible options have been tried Such options or alternative practices include: Early retirement Reducing or halting recruitment for a limited period (but mot for too long, otherwise organization organizations will have a ‘missing a generation’ in the future) Selling part or the company Job-sharing

The Peter Principle and Organizational Career System The Peter Principal is simple: in bureaucracy, employees progress up the hierarchy until they reach their level of competence The organizational effectiveness will deteriorate when the Peter Principle applied.

Change and Continuity: Implications for careers Career Implications New pattern of production and consumption Persistence of work ethic New ways of work, but strong need for work persists Rise of service sector Continual existence of routine, boring jobs Innovative career patterns alongside traditional roles based on division of work Technological change with some growth of high-skilled jobs New types of low-skill low-discretion jobs Career frustration for highly educated new generation Increase of emotional labour Underevaluating of social abilities as skills A gap between professional inner satisfaction and remuneration levels

Change and Continuity: Implications for careers Career Implications More woman in the labor market Gendered division of labour; unfair discrimination Need for management of diversity in light of continuous perceived or actual discrimination New forms of works and working time patterns Traditional working methods and forms of control Stratified labour markets, variety of career system approaches New management initiatives for work intensification Traditional methods of control and reliance on employee consent Applying empowerment and trust-based relationships Emergence of Post-Fordism organizations Taylorism/ Fordism organizations remain Dualism in career management based on organizational operation and ethos