The Role of Career Development in Improving Organizational Effectiveness and Employee Development

The Role of Career Development in Improving Organizational Effectiveness and Employee Development
Robert C. Merchant, Jr. Abstract Today's employees are more career conscious then ever. They are demanding more in terms of personal growth and development. Organizations that fail to allow employees to meet their individual needs will be losing valued employees. This paper will examine the role and importance of Career Development Programs in developing and retaining employees. A Career Development Program seeks to match to needs of the employee with those of the organization with the major components being counseling and training. Counseling provides employees with the opportunity to define career goals and to create plans within the context of organizational realities. Training allows the employee to develop and acquire knowledge, skills and abilities required to enhance his/her current job and prepares them for future job opportunities. As we approach the 21st Century, it is essential that organizations place a high value on career development. This will allow employees to fulfill their career needs, and organizations will benefit by retaining a greater number of their competent and qualified employees. Introduction Overview Many organizations are faced with the problem of retaining employees. It is expensive to replace employees who leave for greener pastures or are lured away by other organizations. New employees have to be recruited, selected, oriented and trained. In fact, it is estimated that it costs an organization approximately 1½ times the salary of the vacated position to replace an employee. Employee turnover can have a demoralizing effect on an organization, and it may also severely impact the overall efficiency of the organization. This becomes even more critical in organizations which are service-oriented, i.e. law enforcement, firefighters, etc., and require highly developed skills and competencies. Unfortunately, there is no single answer that best

References: Aldefer, C. (1972). Existence, relatedness, and growth: Human needs in organizational settings. New York: Free Press Blake, R., & Mouton, J. (1978). The new managerial grid. Houston: Gulf. Champagne, P., & McAfee, R. (1989). Motivating strategies for performance and productivity. New York: Quorum. Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement, Inc. (1991). Standards for law enforcement agencies: The standards manual of the law enforcement agency accreditation program. Virginia. Filipowicz, C. (1979, June). The troubled employee: Who 's responsible? Personnel Administrator, 24 (6), 17-22. Fink, S. (1992). High commitment workplaces. New York: Quorum. Gibbons, G. (1995, February). Career development in smaller departments. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 16-18. Grossman, I., & Doherty, J. (1994, April). On troubled waters, promotion and advancement in the 1990s. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 10-14. Herzberg, F. (1975). One more time: How do you motivate employees? New York: Harper & Row. Leibowitz, B., Farren, C., & Kaye, L. (1986). Designing career development systems. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Lewis, J., & Lewis, M. (1986). workplace. Monterey: Brooks/Cole. Counseling programs for employees in the Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper & Row. McGregor, D. (1960). The human side of enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill. Myers, D. (1985). Employee problem and prevention counseling. Westport: Quorum. Myers, D. (1984). Establishing and building employee assistance programs. Westport: Quorum. National Commission on the Public Services. (1988). Survey of college honor society members. Scheele, A. (1992, January). Working Women, 17(1), 16. Should you change your job or your career. Schein, E. (1978). Career dynamics: matching individual and organizational needs. California: Addison-Wesley Vroom, V. (1967). Work and motivation. New York: Wiley. Walker, J., & Gutteridge, T. (1979). Career planning practices: An AMA survey report. New York: Amacom. Werther, W., & Davis, K. (1992). Personnel management and human resources. New York: McGraw-Hill. West, J., & Berman, E. (1993, September). Human resources strategies in local government: A survey of progress and future direction. American Review of Public Administration, 23(3), 279.