CAREER DEVELOPMENT IN A LEARNING ORGANIZATION

At times the individuals with lower education or a generic qualification may not
be able to calculate the pros and cons of their decision in the present intricate world of
business. They need continuous support to safely maneuver their career strategy and,
therefore, it should be an on going process guiding them through each and every step of
career development process. This will support in averting all the setbacks that an
individual could experience due to lack of accuracy in evaluating facts and could
eventually affect the organization and individual both. Because any wrong career related
decision by the employee will not only affect the career progression of the employees
themselves but would also affect the over all performance of the organization.
Career Management and career development are parts of the process leading to
career success. A perception about one’s career is very peculiar in nature and is based on
individual values, interests, preferences, skills, aptitude, attitude, knowledge, experiences
etc. Due to variation in perception of the individuals about career development, the
organizations cannot have a common career development plan for all the individuals.
This means that the organizations will have to plan the process on the basis of individual
to individual variation in perceptions and needs. This makes it difficult for the
organization to respond to individual needs and preferences and to follow personalized
plans of all the employees.
Now as the learning organization strategize upon drawing the commonalities
between the individual plans and the organizational plans which makes it easy to identify
the roles and responsibilities related to the process at different stages. Due to such clear
segregation of roles and responsibilities, it could be easily streamlined that where the
individuals will be made solely responsible for their career development. Similarly, such
a role on part of the organization at specific points in time could also be clearly defined
as to when the organization will have to share this responsibility and play its role
accordingly. In many of the cases it is being practiced but the process is informal which
ultimately results in slackness in their respective role performance.
While establishing a relationship between career development strategies and
organizational development strategies, Gilly and Mayeunic (1999) comment that
organizations can enhance their renewal and performance capacity only if their
employees’ skills, knowledge, competencies and aptitudes are developed. Adding further