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Career Development International Organizational career planning and management techniques and activities in use in high-tech organizations Yehuda Baruch

Article information: To cite this document: Yehuda Baruch, (1996),"Organizational career planning and management techniques and activities in use in high-tech organizations", Career Development International, Vol. 1 Iss 1 pp. 40 - 49 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13620439610111426 Downloaded on: 13 March 2015, At: 08:13 (PT) References: this document contains references to 45 other documents. To copy this document: [email protected] The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 2425 times since 2006* Downloaded by Emerald Staff, Mrs Zoe Sanders At 08:13 13 March 2015 (PT)

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Organizational career planning and management techniques and activities in use in high-tech organizations

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Yehuda Baruch Lecturer, University of East Anglia, Norwich and Visiting Research Fellow, London Business School, London, UK Summarizes a study that consisted of an empirical analysis of organizational career planning and management techniques – activities, programmes and processes that are part of the human resource management role. Focuses on the actual use of these techniques and their evaluation by management and employees in 60 hightechnology organizations in Israel and the UK. The findings illustrate the applications of these techniques, their perceived quality and their estimated necessity. Presents an analysis of the management perceptions and employees’ attitudes towards the various techniques. Repeats findings which indicate the actual use of the career development techniques and reveal problems of organizational communication.

The author wishes to thank Professor K. Sissons and Professor B. Lawrence for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of the paper.

Career Development International 1/1 [January 1996] 40–49 © MCB University Press [ISSN 1362-0436]

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During the last few decades, career planning and management has appeared to be one of the fastest developing areas in the field of human resource management (HRM). This holds true for theoretical research as well as practical purposes. Hall[1] emphasized the importance of career techniques and activities and the increasing efforts to apply them exerted by top management in many organizations. In general, organizations are taking more responsibility within the area. The entire content of HRM techniques and activities has been the main issue of several works. These works usually illustrate the content of HRM by suggestions of lists, including several HRM techniques, activities and programmes. The literature provide various examples. Tsui and Gomez-Mejia[2] suggested a list of activities, programmes, and methods with which the organization can handle HRM processes. Other suggestions can be found in many textbooks which concentrate on HRM/personnel. Schuster[3] based his research on six representative HRM activities. Gutteridge and Otte[4] also presented organizational HRM techniques, programmes, and activities (see also Flippo[5], Hall[1], Torrington et al.[6], Tyson and Fell[7], Yuen[8], and others). Among these activities or techniques are those concerned with career planning and management (CPM). What is organizational CPM? By this term we mean a comprehensive approach to all the activities and techniques facilitated by the organization which are concerned with the career development of its employees. These include two main aspects – the planning (i.e. preparing for the future), and management (i.e. operating and activating those plans), as seen and performed from the organization’s point of view. This article presents the findings of an empirical study exploring CPM techniques and activities. The main purposes of the study were to: • Identify and examine various CPM techniques in use, and to compare the state-ofthe-art techniques in usage in Israel and the UK. • Examine and evaluate the necessity, quality and effectiveness of these techniques as

perceived by their target population – managers in organizations, including a comparison between the countries. The results of this study could bring a new perspective of the effectiveness of organizational techniques and activities in the area of CPM for the purpose of improving the HRM functioning in organizations. Gutteridge[9] suggests a distinction between career development and HRM planning, as sub-elements of a comprehensive HRM system. The importance and prominence of CPM has already been recognized by many scholars[10-13]. A “career” is a process of development of the employees along a path of experience and jobs in the organization(s)[14]. This definition reflects the notion of career in a more comprehensive way than the usual definitions in use because of the internal balance between the organizational and individual aspects. This difference was noted by Storey[15], who tried to distinguish between the two categories. He called the individual level approach “career planning”, while the organizational level approach was termed “career managing”. It seems, however, that this terminology does not fit the nature of career processes. The individual also has selfcareer management activities (i.e. responding to job posting, changing profession), whereas the organization has, in addition planning activities (i.e. career succession planning, training programmes). Nevertheless there is a difference between these both approaches. The present study concentrated on the organizational point of view. Many works have been carried out in which the author(s) relates to one or more of these activities. Some of these works suggest a partial list (see, for example [16-18]. Walker and Gutteridge’s[19] list is more enhanced and contains ten CPM activities. Some of these, however, are closer to other aspects of HRM rather than to CPM (recruitment, interface work-family). Certain aspects of the techniques and activities have been discussed by Gutteridge and Otte[4], but their discussion was limited to ten techniques and an evaluation of only three of them. Their measures of evaluation of the effectiveness were

Yehuda Baruch Organizational career planning and management techniques and activities in use in high-tech organizations


Career Development International 1/1 [1996] 40–49

subjective and therefore perhaps inadequate for practical use. CPM is an HRM area that requires special efforts from both the organization and the individual. Nevertheless, most of the studies on careers that are presented in the literature focus on the individual’s (employee’s) point of view, whereas very few studies have been carried out that emphasize the organizational perspective (see, for example [11,17,20]). Some of these works consist of theoretical frameworks rather than empirical study. Von Glinow, et al’s [21] work suggested an integrated HRM system based on essential information flows concerning all HRM activities. Most of those activities were CPM centred. Pazy[22] suggested that there is scope for studying organizational activities concerning career management. An appropriate career management programme, according to Pazy, can contribute to organizational effectiveness. A survey by Storey, et al.[23] emphasized that in many cases career planning is done mainly by the organization, and the individual has very little effect on it. To conduct an empirical study on CPM we need relevant information. What would be the most adequate source for such information? Is it the organization’s head(s)? Its employees? Others? Burack[24] suggests that there is a difference between the responsibilities of the organization and those of the employee in career planning. Jackson and Vitberg[25] claim that there is a mismatch between the organizational short-term needs and the individual’s long-term needs. It seems to be misleading to assume that this division is a realistic one, because the organization also has long-term needs while the individual has short-term needs too. Thus, in the present study we confront the organization’s point of view versus the individual’s – the employee’s point of view. The CPM techniques can be identified through exploring the nature and type of HRM activities which are of relevance to the CPM area. The present study is of an exploratory nature, aiming to examine and evaluate organizational CPM. We tried to refer to as many HRM techniques, activities and programmes as possible (further on – techniques) that have close connection with the CPM. From such lists of general HRM functions as indicated in the literature, 19 techniques were chosen. The Appendix consists of the comprehensive list of these techniques and the sources leading to the generation of this list.

Method A cross-organizational study design was developed, aimed at three levels of data collection, processes, and analysis: the individual, the organizational and the cultural level. The discussion here will concentrate on these levels.

Instruments The research instruments used in the study consisted of two parts: first, a form for the top level managers (two in each organization) which was basically a structured interview aimed at revealing which of these CPM techniques were in use in the organization. During the separate two interviews these managers were asked to indicate whether these CPM techniques are applied in their organization, and if so, to what extent (e.g. to what percentage of the population, how developed is the technique?). Second, at the employee’s level, the source for information was part of a questionnaire which was designed to evaluate and analyse the perception of individual respondents towards the different CPM techniques in his or her organization. These included the questions: • In his or her opinion, what is the importance and necessity for the use of this technique? • Does he or she know or think that the techniques is in use in his or her organization? • How would he or she evaluate the quality of this technique? • Has he or she been experienced/participated in this technique?

Sample and procedure The organizational level The organizations under study were hightechnology, employing more than 150 employees, and existing for more than five years. These criteria left 57 organizations altogether as a relevant research population in Israel and 40 in the south-east of the UK. In Israel 51 (86 per cent) and nine in the UK (23 per cent) agreed to participate. The data at the organizational level was collected by interviewing the HRM manager and the general managing director/CEO of the organization (or, in some cases, the vice president or another managing director, one of the 3-4 top level).

The individual level Forty-one organizations agreed to extend the participation to the employees’ level, by distributing questionnaires among relevant employees (39 in Israel and two in the UK).

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The population was characterized as managers and employees of managerial potential (such as engineers, excluding the rank and file employees). The sample was random and stratified, separated into hierarchical levels within every organization to ensure that the respondents represented all the hierarchy levels within the organizations under study. Out of a total 1,540 questionnaires, 846 were returned – a return rate of 55 per cent. Confidentiality of response was assured through anonymity of the respondents. Of the respondents 66 per cent had an academic degree, almost 90 per cent had a professional or technical education. This level of education is higher than what is usually reported in the literature, probably since it is a sample of managers and alike in high technology organizations. Eighty-seven per cent were males, average tenure in the organizations was 11.1 years (SD – 7.4). Average age was 41 (SD – 7.5). The characteristics of the non-participants were examined and compared with those of the participants, at the organizational as well as the individual level. No special difference was found between these two populations.

Results Table I presents the reply to a battery of questions, which examined whether there was use of the CPM technique for each of the techniques, as reported by the top management during the interviews. Each one of the two top managers was also asked to tell the way in which the technique is implemented, for which part of the employees, etc. The expectations at first were that both the top management members (the manager of the HRM unit and the CEO or his/her deputy) would give precisely the same answer. It occurred many times, however, that there was a mismatch as to the extent to which they thought the technique was in use, or sometimes even inconsistency as to whether the technique was in use at all. That is the reason for the middle column. Thus we present in the first column the number of the occasions of full agreement between both managers that a technique was not used. The next column indicates the number of cases where the two replies were not similar, and the last column presents the cases where there was agreement. The following are some of the prominent findings that are expressed in the table. First,

Table I The existence of organizational CPM techniques – management viewpoint Existence The technique % 1 Use of PA as a basis for career planning 56.7 2 Career counselling by direct supervisor 35 3 Career counselling by HRM unit 16.7 4 Books and/or pamphlets on career issues 8.3 5 Common career paths 28.3 6 Assessment centre 41.7 7 Other ways of identifying management potential 11.7 8 Dual ladder 43.3 9 Postings regarding internal job openings 43.3 10 Appraisal committees 18.3 11 Formal education as part of career development 98.3 12 Career workshops 10 13 Written personal career planning for employees 6.7 14 Retirement preparation programmes 33.3 15 Mentoring 43.3 16 Performance appraisal as a basis for salary review 63.3 17 Management inventory (succession planning) 28.3 18 Quality circles for identification of management potentialb 30 19 Training programmes for managers 70

Disagreement if exists or not % 26.7 28.3 26.7 15 36.7 26.7 10 26.7 16.7 15 1.7 8.3 10 55a – 18.3 30 23.3 –

Non-existence % 16.7 36.7 56.7 76.7 35 31.7 78.2 30 40 66.7 – 81.7 83.3 10 55 18.3 41.7 46.7 23.3

Notes: There are four missing answers to technique 19 and one to techniques 14 and 15 a This high portion contains within it the organizations that declared this kind of technique unnecessary in the present stage of their organizational life (young organization) b These were the answers for the existence of quality circles. However, none of the organizations marked the quality circles as a technique for possible identification of management potential Number of organizations = 60 (51 in Israel; nine in the UK) [ 42 ]




it is clear that there is a wide range of use of the above CPM techniques. Some techniques are in more frequent use whereas others are limited to very few organizations (e.g. written personal career planning for the employees). Two main reasons for such lack of use were put forward during the interviews: 1 Organizations try not to raise employees expectations as much as they can. This may explain the low use of the techniques such as written personal career planning. 2 The second possible reason may be connected to the changing nature of today’s business life. Frequent changes in the organizational structure and operation, redundancies and delayering makes it quite difficult to plan ahead managers’ careers in accurate terms. Sometimes long-term planning is limited to general directions and cannot be involved with individual people. Table II presents the differences between the Israeli and the UK responses. For the purpose of the comparisons all the cases of full or partial agreement were considered as exist. In some cases there was a large difference between the countries. The most significant cases with higher level of use in the UK were career counselling (by direct supervisor or by HRM unit); posting of job openings; career workshops; written personal career planning programmes for the employees; and performance appraisal as a basis for salary

review. Techniques that were used more in Israel were the dual ladder, appraisal committees; succession planning and training programmes for managers. Quality circles cannot be counted, for they were not used for CPM. Altogether the techniques in higher level of use in the UK seem to be those related to the individual, whereas in most cases where the Israeli responses were higher, these were techniques related to the organization. The mismatch mentioned above is not limited to top level management but appears also at the employee’s level as well. Tables III and IV present the overall summary of the answers at the employee’s level to the question of whether the techniques are in use within their organization, the actual use of the techniques as reported by the employees, and the average scores of the techniques’ quality and necessity, as evaluated by the employees (on a scale of 1-5). The data which consist of the responses is presented separately for both countries. There are less techniques in these tables, compared to those in the first two. The reason is that there are CPM techniques which the employees are not familiar with. For example, “management inventory”, a technique that is usually kept confidential when it exists, and is known to top management and the HRM department only (though recently some can be open for all members of the organization).

Table II The existence of OCPM techniques: management viewpoint – national comparison The technique

Israel %

UK %

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

82 59 41 22 67 69 22 75 55 37 100 14 14 90 43 78 63 75

89 89 56 33 56 67 22 44 89 11 100 44 33 78 44 100 33 44

Use of performance appraisal as a basis for career planning Career counselling by direct supervisor Career counselling by HRM unit Books and/or pamphlets on career issues Common career paths Assessment centre Other ways of identifying management potential Dual ladder Postings regarding internal job openings Appraisal committees Formal education as part of career development Career workshops Written personal career planning for employees Retirement preparation programmes Mentoring PA as a basis for salary review Management inventory (succession planning) Training programmes for managers

Note: Number of organizations = 60 (51 in Israel: nine in the UK) [ 43 ]

Table III The techniques: necessity and quality as reported by the managers’ employees The technique

Necessity evaluation

Quality evaluation


1 Use of PA as a basis for career planning 2 Career counselling by direct supervisor 3 Career counselling by HRM unit 4 Books and/or pamphlets on career issues 5 Common career paths 6 Assessment centre 7 Other ways of identifying management potential 8 Dual ladder 9 Postings regarding internal job openings 10 Appraisal committees 11 Formal education as part of career development 12 Career workshops 13 Written personal career planning for employees 14 Retirement preparation programmesa Average SD

4.21 (4.36) 3.96 (4.31) 3.60 (3.53) 3.14 (2.92) 3.75 (3.13) 3.73 (3.16) 3.68 (3.68) 3.93 (3.16) 4.00 (3.84) 3.22 (2.64) 4.18 (3.48) 3.59 (3.23) 3.35 (3.38) 4.11 (3.51) 3.74 (3.45) 0.34 (0.48)

3.13 (3.02) 3.15 (2.80) 2.75 (2.44) 2.95 (2.36) 2.90 (2.66) 2.99 (3.00) 3.10 (2.74) 3.01 (2.58) 3.36 (2.86) 2.85 (2.91) 3.51 (3.27) 3.38 (3.04) 2.96 (2.70) 3.59 (3.07) 3.11 (2.82) 0.25 (0.26)



Notes: It should be recognized that most of those who were treated by this technique are no longer members of the organization and thus the data are not representative N = 846: 727, Israel, 119, UK a

Table IV The techniques: exists (percentage) and actual treatment (percentage) as reported by managers’ employees % Exists The technique 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Use of PA as a basis for career planning Career counselling by direct supervisor Career counselling by HRM unit Books and/or pamphlets on career issues Common career paths Assessment centre Other ways of identifying management potential Dual ladder Postings regarding internal job openings Appraisal committees Formal education as part of career development Career workshops Written personal career planning for employees Retirement preparation programmesa Mentoring

% Actual Treatment

Israel

UK

Israel

UK

66 42 21 23 39 48 33 33 67 26 73 40 6 39 51

85 82 23 30 49 28 61 27 76 28 66 16 36 57 na

33 28 9 12 18 23 15 12 19 9 43 26 3 3 na

80 74 13 19 33 21 45 13 55 16 43 10 28 na na

Notes: a It should be recognized that most of those who were treated by this technique are no longer members of the organization and thus the data are not representative N = 846: 727, Israel, 119, UK The first overwhelming finding is the low proportion of the existence as well as of the actual usage of most of the techniques. Except for formal education as part of career development, all of the other techniques were

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implemented by less than one third of the employees, three by less than 10 per cent (excluding pre-retirement preparation). The most-used techniques are (in order of usage): formal education as part of career, perfor-




mance appraisal as a basis for career planning, and career counselling by direct supervisor. The picture from the UK was better, though based on a lower number of respondents, and the following techniques were in actual use for most of the respondents: use of performance appraisal as a basis for career planning; career counselling by direct supervisor; postings regarding internal job openings. Relating to the average scores of techniques’ quality and necessity as evaluated by the employees, the results indicate that the necessity attached to the CPM techniques is very high, and varies a lot among the different techniques, whereas the quality of the actual implementation was evaluated quite moderately, with relatively low variance. This may be due to high expectations of the employees. The UK scores were lower than those from Israel, both for the necessity (3.45 compared to 3.74) and the quality (2.88 compared to 3.11) evaluation. The differences are statistically significant ( p value = 0.01). A possible explanation could be a higher level of expectation of employees in the UK. Regarding the quality scores, the highest scores given by the employees to the different techniques in the various organizations are for retirement preparation programmes, postings regarding internal job openings, and formal education as part of career development. Career workshops were also among the highest scored, but this seems to be caused by unclarity regarding the question. Employees probably regarded any developmental workshops as career workshops, while we intended to receive information only of the career-centred workshops, as was explained in the interviews with top management. According to the interviews with top management it seems that the use of this kind of workshop is limited. The lowest scores were given to “career counselling by the HRM department” and “appraisal committees”. This might indicate a poor performance of the HRM departments in career counselling, a low felt need for such counselling, or high expectations of employees which are not satisfied by this technique. There is an association between the amount of use of the techniques and their evaluation score. It is difficult to identify whether this is because of familiarity with the techniques or because the best techniques are in more common use. Familiarity may also lead to better quality of use, thus higher evaluation. However, this picture is not precise, at least not at the organizational level analysis. The figures in the table manifest the total number of responses from all the organizations but

there was no full agreement within the interorganizational answers. In most of the cases it was found that in each organization not all of the employees reported the existence of the various techniques. There were very few cases where all the employees agreed that certain techniques do not exist, and even fewer cases of organizations where all the employees agreed about the existence of specific techniques. A common case was that within each organization, some of the employees would say that certain techniques existed and some would say that they did not. The proportions varied among the organizations and the techniques. This emphasizes the mismatch and lack of knowledge (or perhaps also indifference) regarding the CPM techniques. The necessity evaluations were very close to the quality score (r = 0.64). The necessity scores were higher and the standard deviation more than twice the quality score. This means that the employees see a high necessity for CPM and can distinguish between different techniques in their necessity. The highest scores given by the employees to the different techniques in the various organizations are for the use of performance appraisal as a basis for career planning; formal education as part of the career development and retirement preparation programmes.

Discussion Two main findings can be derived from the results presented above. The first one concerns the disagreement among the respondents. Both top management and the employees provided contradictory information regarding CPM techniques. The different respondents did not have, in fact, the same perception regarding the kind of career techniques in use within the organization. The most prominent disagreement within the top management level concerned the following techniques: common career path, career counselling by direct supervisor, and management inventory. This disagreement may be due to two main reasons: 1 the ambiguity of the nature as well as the definition of the different techniques; 2 a real lack of knowledge. Both can be caused by distortions in organizational communication. These reasons hold true also for the employees’ level. Another possibility for the phenomenon at the employees level is lack of interest in HRM activities. The second main finding is the low proportion of actual implementation as reported by

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the employees, especially in Israel. The respondents belong to the expected target group for the exercising of these techniques, since they are either managers who had some kind of development processes, and who have subordinates to take care of, or a population that is expected to develop high career potential. Perhaps the most important question is “does this make a difference”? What are the consequences for the individual and for the organization? As shown by Baruch and Rosenstein[14], there is a strong connection between the implementation of CPM techniques and the self-career planning and management by individuals (r = 0.54). Other positive correlations were found with satisfaction measures (e.g. organizational satisfaction, career satisfaction) and the implementation of CPM. High success in staffing, higher internal promotion and lower turnover were found connected with CPM, as well as the organizational reputation in HRM. Having a large scale of CPM techniques can be the base for a better organizational effectiveness, though this depends also on several other elements and factors, such as the ability to distribute the ideas to all organizational levels, i.e. from the very top down to the lower hierarchy level. Looking at the perceived importance of the CPM, the evaluations were considerably high. This means that the target population believe that CPM is a crucial HRM area which should attract more attention of managers, especially in HRM. The ambiguity and lack of knowledge of the CPM techniques together with the high expectations of a highly educated workforce might create low appreciation for this area. Such results indicate the importance of CPM to be carried out by HRM in organizations. Career development systems should fit the needs of the individuals within the organization. Since people vary a lot in their needs, stage of career, level of hierarchy, and many other characteristics, the CPM must be widespread and diverse, so that it will fit the variety of individual needs mentioned above. As for the differences between the Israeli and the UK environment, it was found that (under the limitation concerned with the low participation of UK organizations) there is more use of CPM techniques in the UK. Nevertheless, the evaluation of their necessity and quality was lower than in Israel. What could be the reason for such differences? The UK environment is perhaps better equipped with tradition and experience in HRM, and directed to individuals more than that of Israel. HRM studies are less developed in Israel (e.g. there are few MBA

programmes in Israeli universities, none in HRM). One of the first questions in the questionnaire was about the importance of a system in HRM that will take care of career planning and management in the organization. There were six levels, beginning with (1) “not at all important to the organization’s success”, up to (6) “essential to the organization’s success”. The evaluations were very high; 4.67 (SD 0.97) in Israel and 5.2 (SD 0.83) in the UK (i.e. more than half in the UK scored it 6). However, when asked to evaluate the success of the HRM unit in the organization in accomplishing its goals, it was estimated at the low level of 2.3 (SD 1.38) in Israel and 3.14 (SD 1.26) in the UK. When asked to evaluate the success in selecting the most appropriate candidates for management positions, the scores (this time on a 1-5 scale) were 2.73 (SD 1.03) in Israel and 2.67 (SD 1.03) in the UK. These are quite moderate evaluations which may give rise to HRM units in organizations for recognizing a problem and making considerations in order to improve the performance and the image of the unit. Other interesting findings derive from the quality evaluations as well as the importance and necessity evaluations of the techniques, as suggested by the employees. The employees are a most valuable source for this information, since they can indicate their needs for CPM. Also they are the target population for these techniques, and use it in practice. On the other hand, the employees might lack the organizational point of view and look at career development from their narrow perspective. Sometimes they are unaware what elements are provided by the various CPM techniques. This emphasizes the importance of internal communication between HRM and other parts inside the organization.

Conclusions The present study has dealt with career planning and management techniques and concentrated on a comparison between the organizational and the employee’s point of view. Comparison between the situation in Israel and the UK was suggested too. The outcome is of considerable importance, since the research involved 60 high-tech organizations, and included 846 managers and the like in those organizations; and points out several meaningful findings. First, the frequency of use of the different techniques, which in itself is an information uncovered in past works. The results indicate low level of acquaintance of employees with the techniques, and perhaps subsequently, far




below the expectations of HRM theorists and practitioners. Perhaps the most interesting question to be examined is: why are some practices used more than others? The answer could be connected to the fear of organizations from creating career expectations within their employees. These concerns grow even more in a time of recession on one hand, and changes and instability in business life on the other hand. Long-term planning becomes more difficult, sometimes irrelevant, and organizations mainly tend to plan career developments in the short term. Even if planning long-term developments, these will be presented and discussed in vague and non-committing ways. Second, the disagreement which was found among the respondents referring to the existence of the techniques, both at top management and employee levels. This disagreement is due to two main reasons: 1 the ambiguity of the nature as well as the definition of the different techniques; 2 a real lack of knowledge that can be caused by distortions in organizational communication. The third prominent outcome is the low portion of actual implementation, as reported by the employees. The respondents belonged to the expected target group for the application of these techniques and yet were not well acquainted with many of them. Some other interesting findings are the importance and necessity of the techniques as evaluated by the employees and which are presented in the results part of this article. As for the differences between Israeli and the UK results, in general the findings represent quite a similar picture. Nevertheless, some significant differences were identified relating to specific elements, such as the existance of certain techniques for the actuality, quality, etc.

Limitations and future recommended research First, it should be pointed out here that some of the data consists of employees’ as well as management perceptions and not only objective and accurate measures. Second, the present study was carried out in the Israeli and the UK high-tech environment. Replications of the study in other sectors and countries are recommended. However, it needs to be recognized that today’s business environment is rather global. The new technology of information and transportation have made the entire world more homogeneous (small village). One demonstration for this claim is the fact that some of the organizations under this study

were subsidiaries of multinational firms or have their own subsidiaries overseas. As to future research in the field of careers, the present status of research into careers in organizations is impeded by a lack of empirical work. It is recommended that the effects of the different techniques be tested on the basis of objective measures. How to use CPM to affect business results and how to measure its effects is one riddle to be resolved by future studies. Research which can answer these problems could contribute to our understanding of organizations and would give the professional human resource manager better instruments to use in his or her daily work within the organization.

References 1 Hall, D.T., Career Development in Organizations, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1986, pp. 50-94. 2 Tsui, A.S. and Gomez-Mejia, L.R., “Evaluating human resource effectiveness”, in Dyre, L. (Ed.), Human Resource Management: Evolving Roles and Responsibilities, Series 1, ASPA/BNA, Washington, DC, 1988, pp. 187-227. 3 Schuster, F.E., The Schuster Report, John Wiley, New York, NY, 1986, pp. 171-87. 4 Gutteridge, T.G. and Otte, F.L., “Organizational career development: what’s going on out there?”, Training and Development Journal, Vol. 37 No. 2, 1983, pp. 22-6. 5 Flippo, E.B., Personnel Management, 6th ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 1984, pp. 224-69. 6 Torrington, D., MacKay, L. and Hall, L., “The changing nature of personnel management”, Employee’s Relations, Vol. 7 No. 5, 1985, pp. 10-16. 7 Tyson, S. and Fell, A., Evaluating the Personnel Function, Hutchinson, London, 1986. 8 Yuen, E.C., “Human resource management in high and medium technology companies”, Personnel Review, Vol. 19 No. 4, 1990, pp. 36-46. 9 Gutteridge, T.G., “Organizational career development systems: the state of the practice”, in Hall, D.T., Career Development in Organizations, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1986, pp. 50-94. 10 Hall, D.T., Careers in Organizations, Goodyear, Santa Monica, CA, 1976. 11 Schein, E.H., Career Dynamics: Matching Individual and Organizational Needs, AddisonWesley, Reading, MA, 1978. 12 Van Mannen, J. and Schein, E.H., “Career development”, in Hackman, J.R. and Suttle, J.L. (Eds), Improving Life at Work: Behavioural Science Approaches to Organizational Change, Goodyear, Santa Monica, CA, 1977, pp. 30-95. 13 Leach, J., “The notion and nature of careers”, The Personnel Administrator, Vol. 22 No. 7, 1977, pp. 53-63. 14 Baruch, Y. and Rosenstein, E., “Career planning and managing in high tech organizations”, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 3 No. 3, 1992, pp. 477-96.

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34 Carulli, L.M., Noroian, C.L. and Levine, C., “Employee-driven career development”, Personnel Administrator, Vol. 34 No. 3, 1989, pp. 66-70. 35 Boyle, T.J. and Leibowitz, S.J., “Hiring thoroughbreds: pitfalls to avoid and rules to follow”, Business Horizons, NovemberDecember 1990, pp. 28-33. 36 Laser, S.A., “Management development in a changing environment”, in Niehaus, R.J. and Price, K.F., Human Resource Strategies for Organizations in Transition, Plenum Press, New York, NY, 1990, pp. 255-63. 37 Feuer, D., “Two ways to the top?”, Training, Vol. 23 No. 2, 1986, pp. 26-34. 38 Badway, M.K., “What we’ve learned managing human resources”, Research-technology Management, Vol. 31 No. 5, 1988, pp. 19-35. 39 Sweeney, D.S., Haller, D. and Sale, F., “Individually controlled career counselling”, Training and Development Journal, August 1987, pp. 58-61. 40 Baird, L. and Kram, K.E., “Career dynamics: managing the supervisor-subordinate relationship”, Organizational Dynamic, Summer 1983, pp. 46-64. 41 Clawson, J.G., “Mentoring in managerial careers”, in Derr, C.B. (Ed.), Work, Family and the Career, Praeger, New York, NY, 1980. 42 Kram, K.E., Mentoring at Work, Scott, Foresman, Glenview, IL, 1985. 43 Kram, K.E., “Mentoring in the workplace”, in Hall, D.T., Career Development in Organizations, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1986, pp. 50-94. 44 Miner, J.B. and Miner, M.G., Personnel and Industrial Relations: A Managerial Approach, Macmillan, New York, NY, 1985, pp. 208-31. 45 Martin, P., “Evaluating the individual and organizational effects on managers self-development groups”, in Pedlar, M.J., Burgoyne, J. and Boydell, T.H., Applying Self-development in Organization, Prentice-Hall, London, 1988, pp. 229-48.

Appendix The techniques 1 Use of performance appraisal as a basis for career planning. 2 Career counselling by direct supervisor. 3 Career counselling by HRM unit. 4 Books and/or pamphlets on career issues. 5 Common career paths. 6 Assessment centre. 7 Other ways of identifying management potential. 8 Dual ladder (parallel hierarchy for professional staff). 9 Postings regarding internal job openings (internal advertisement of vacant job). 10 Appraisal committees. 11 Formal education as part of career development. 12 Career workshops.




13 Written personal career planning programmes for the employees. 14 Retirement preparation programmes. 15 Mentoring. 16 Performance appraisal as a basis for salary review. 17 Management inventory (Succession planning). 18 Quality circles as a source for identification of management potential. 19 Training programmes for managers (to give them the skills needed for taking care of their employees’ careers). Each of the suggested techniques can be part of the organizational treatment of its employees’ careers. The last four techniques are usually not familiar to the employees as such, and thus were checked only at the organizational level (represented by top management). Most of the techniques are well known and there is a vital literature referring to each one of them. Here are the main sources for the various techniques: Numerous works emphasize the need for close connection between the performance appraisal system and career development (e.g.[26,27].) Hall et al.[28] demonstrated the gap between the theoretical performance of appraisal systems and their implementation, suggesting the need for combining the CPM with the performance appraisal system. Such a system was found in most of the organization in several studies (Varney[29], Lazer and Wikstrom[30] and others), and in some cases used for related payment (see [31]). Ivancevich and Glueck[32] found career counselling by direct supervisor in 56 per cent of the organizations under their study. One of the problems concerned with this technique is the way in which the direct managers see it in many cases as an administrative burden. The use of career paths is rapidly spreading in various organizations [33]. Its essentiality was demonstrated by Carulli, Naroian and Levine’s study[34] and Boyle and Leibowitz[35]. The use of career paths is expected to be more frequent in larger organizations, whereas in smaller ones, one may find informal paths or a lack of such paths. Assessment centres are discussed very widely in recent literature and most of the studies provide strong support for the effectiveness of assessment centres (e.g.[33,36]). Also the dual ladder for CPM had gained the attention of many large firms[37], and its implementation is in continuous growth[38]. The growing importance of job posting as part of a comprehensive CPM system was demonstrated by

Hall[1]. Advance systems of job posting could be an indication that the organization prefers internal promotion to recruiting managers from outside the organization. However, it could be seen to be irrelevant in small organizations. It might also be “fixed” (tailored for a specific person). Such an approach reduces the possible efficiency of the technique. Career workshop can contribute to the effectiveness of the employee[39]. However, it would be difficult to distinguish specific CPM workshops from general managerial workshops which are usually widely in use. The potential of mentoring was suggested in many studies see [40-42]. Kram[43] argues that the organization can initiate and implement the mentoring relationships effectively. Succession planning was presented by Miner and Miner[44] who suggested a framework of organizational planning in which the organization determines the possible replacement for every manager within the organization, and evaluates the potential for promotion for the manager. Usually such a technique is confidential and thus only the top level managers were asked of it in the present study. Training programmes for managers which may give them the skills needed for taking care of their employees’ career could be of great importance for CPM. In accordance with the Walker and Gutteridge[19] study, this was put into the present study as a technique too. They found that most of the supervisors (87 per cent) were not trained for this. Some others’ techniques were adopted from various HRM textbooks, to make the list as comprehensive as possible. Is the list really comprehensive and full? No list can be complete or final, as there are developments and there might be other activities which can be regarded as CPM-oriented (e.g. special programmes for ethnic minorities, women, disabled). Recently there is a new technique relating to self career management in small groups[45]. However, according to reactions from the organizations that took part in the study, as well as comments from academic scholars, it seems that the suggested list is comprehensive. In addition to the techniques which appear in the list, a check was carried out to explore if there was use of a database which consisted of the qualifications, biography and background of each employee, and whether this database was computerized or not; also, were there/are any other career techniques or activities used.

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