Section Onecontinues, the problem of obsolescence will need continued
attention.
Reductions in Career Plateauing
Career plateaus occur when employees have occupied a job in
an organization for some period of time, have mastered all
aspects of the job, and have low prospects for promotion.
Eliminating or reducing the incidence of plateaus is important
because they have the potential to create resentment and a
sense of futility. As a result, there may be reductions in
productivity. Plateaus are a natural consequence of a lack of
organizational growth or change. They also occur because of
the pyramidal shape of organizations and organizational
inflexibility. Other, more employee-specific causes of plateaus
are the personal choices of employees, lack of career skills
resulting from naive perceptions of organizational realities, and
lack of requisite skills for promotion.^46
Employees also may lack appropriate skills because
changes in the external environment and resultant shifts in
strategies may not have been anticipated in a company’s
managerial development programs. In such instances, the
company may be forced to hire managerial talent from outside.
Aside from the expense of external hiring there may be
detrimental effects on morale. Further, those brought in may