Developing and Assisting Members:Career Stages, Career Planning, Job Pathing

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Organization Development MGMT 628

Lesson 40

Developing and Assisting Members

This lecture presents three human resources management interventions concerned with developing and

assisting the well-being of organization members. First, organizations have had to adapt their career

planning and development processes to a variety of trends. For example, people have different needs and

concerns as they progress through their career stages; technological changes have altered organizational

structures and systems dramatically; and global competition has forced organizations to redefine how work

gets done. These processes and concerns have forced individuals and organizations to redefine the social

contract that binds them together. Career planning and development interventions can help deal effectively

with these issues. Second, increasing workforce diversity provides an especially challenging environment for

human resources management. The mix of genders, ages, value orientations, thinking styles, and ethnic

backgrounds represented in the modern workforce is increasingly varied. Management's perspectives,

strategic responses, and implementation approaches can help address pressures posed by this diversity.

Finally, wellness interventions, such as employee assistance and stress management programs, are

addressing several important social trends, such as fitness and health consciousness, drug and alcohol

abuse, and work-life balance.

Career Planning and Development Interventions:

Career planning and development have been receiving increased attention in organizations. Growing

numbers of managers and professional staff are seeking more control over their work lives. As

organizations downsize and restructure, there is less trust in the organization to provide job security.

Employees are not willing to have their careers "just happen" and are taking an active role in planning and

managing them. This is particularly true for women, mid-career employees, and college recruits, who are

increasingly asking for career planning assistance. On the other hand, organizations are becoming more and

more reliant on their "intellectual capital." Providing career planning and development opportunities for

organization members helps to recruit and retain skilled and knowledgeable workers. Many talented job

candidates, especially minorities and women, are showing a preference for employers who offer career

advancement opportunities.

Many organizations--General Electric, Xerox, Intel, Ciba-Geigy, Cisco Systems, Quaker Oats, and Novotel

UK, among others--have adopted career planning and development programs. These programs have

attempted to improve the quality of work life for managers and professionals, to improve their

performance, to increase employee retention, and to respond to equal employment and affirmative action

legislation. Companies have discovered that organizational growth and effectiveness require career

development programs to ensure that needed talent will be available. Competent managers are often the

scarcest resource. Many companies also have experienced the high costs of turnover among recent college

graduates, including MBAs, which can reach 50 percent after five years. Career planning and development

help attract and hold such highly talented employees and can increase the chances that their skills and

knowledge will be used.

Organizations are discovering that the career development needs of women and minorities often require

special programs and the use of nontraditional methods, such as integrated systems for recruitment,

placement, and development. Similarly, age-discrimination laws have led many organizations to set up

career programs aimed at older managers and professionals. Thus, career planning and development are

increasingly being applied to people at different ages and stages of development--from new recruits to

those nearing retirement age.

Finally, career planning and development interventions increasingly have been used in cases of "career halt"

where layoffs and job losses have resulted from organization decline, downsizing, reengineering, and

restructuring. These abrupt halts to career progress can have severe human consequences, and human

resources practices have been developed for helping members cope with these problems.

Career planning is concerned with individuals choosing occupations, organizations, and positions at each

stage of their careers. Career development involves helping employees attain career objectives. Although

both of these interventions generally are aimed at managerial and professional employees, a growing

number of programs are including lower-level employees, particularly those in white-collar jobs.

Career Stages:

A career consists of a sequence of work-related positions occupied by a person during the course of a

lifetime. Traditionally, careers were judged in terms of advancement and promotion upward in the

organizational hierarchy. Today, they are defined in more holistic ways to include a person's attitudes and

experiences. For example, a person can remain in the same job, acquiring and developing new skills, and

have a successful career without ever getting promoted. Similarly, people may move horizontally through a

Organization Development MGMT 628

series of jobs in different functional areas of the firm. Although they may not be promoted upward in the

hierarchy, their broadened job experiences constitute a successful career.

Considerable research has been devoted to understanding how aging and experience affect people's careers.

This research has drawn on the extensive work done on adult growth and development and has adapted

that developmental perspective to work experience. Results suggest that employees progress through at

least four distinct career stages as they mature and gain experience. Each stage has unique concerns, needs,

and challenges.

1. The establishment stage (ages 21-26 years). This phase is the outset of a career when people are

generally uncertain about their competence and potential. They are dependent on others, especially bosses

and more experienced employees, for guidance, support, and feedback. At this stage, people are making

initial choices about committing themselves to a specific career, organization, and job. They are exploring

possibilities while learning about their own capabilities.

2. The advancement stage (ages 26-40 years). During this phase, employees become independent

contributors who are concerned with achieving and advancing in their chosen careers. They have typically

learned to perform autonomously and need less guidance from bosses and closer ties with colleagues. This

settling-down period also is characterized by attempts to clarify the range of long-term career options.

3. The maintenance stage (ages 40-60 years). This phase involves leveling off and holding on to career

successes. Many people at this stage have achieved their greatest advancements and are now concerned

with helping less-experienced subordinates. For those who are dissatisfied with their career progress, this

period can be conflictual and depressing, as characterized by the term "midlife crisis." People often

reappraise their circumstances, search for alternatives, and redirect their career efforts. Success in these

endeavors can lead to com inning growth, whereas failure can lead to early decline.

4. The withdrawal stage (ages 60 years and above). This final stage is concerned with leaving a career.

It involves letting go of organizational attachments and getting ready for greater leisure time and retirement.

The employee's major contributions are imparting knowledge and experience to others. For those people

who are generally satisfied with their careers, this period can result in feelings of fulfillment and a

willingness to leave the career behind.

The different career stages represent a broad developmental perspective on people's jobs. They provide

insight about the personal and career issues that people are likely to face at different career phases. These

issues can be potential sources of stress. Employees are likely to go through the phases at different rates,

and to experience personal and career issues differently at each stage. For example, one person may

experience the maintenance stage as a positive opportunity to develop less-experienced employees; another

person may experience the maintenance stage as a stressful leveling off of career success.

Career Planning:

Career planning involves setting individual career objectives. It is highly personalized and generally includes

assessing one's interests, capabilities, values, and goals; examining alternative careers; making decisions that

may affect the current job; and planning how to progress in the desired direction. This process results in

people choosing occupations, organizations, and jobs. It determines, for example, whether individuals will

accept or decline promotions and transfers and whether they will stay or leave the company for another job

or for retirement.

The four career stages can be used to make career planning more effective. Table 18.1 shows the different

career stages and the career planning issues relevant at each phase. Applying the table to a particular

employee involves first diagnosing the person's existing career stage--establishment, advancement,

maintenance, or withdrawal. Next, available career planning resources are used to help the employee ad-

dress pertinent issues. Career planning programs include some or all of the following resources:

· Communication about career opportunities and resources available to employees within the

organization

· Workshops to encourage employees to assess their interests, abilities, and job situations and to

formulate career development plans

· Career counseling by managers or human resources personnel

· Self-development materials, such as books, videotapes, and other media, directed toward

identifying life and career issues

· Assessment programs that provide various tests of vocational interests, aptitudes, and abilities

relevant to setting career goals.

Application 9 describes the career planning resources available at Pacific Bell. It provides an example of the

range of resources that can be provided and how these programs can be implemented flexibly.

According to Table 19, employees who are just becoming established in careers can be stressed by concerns

for identifying alternatives, assessing their interests and capabilities, learning how to perform effectively,

Organization Development MGMT 628

and finding out how they are doing. At this stage, the company should provide considerable

communication and counseling about available career paths and the skills and abilities needed to progress in

them. Workshops, self-development materials, and assessment techniques should be aimed at helping

employees assess their interests, aptitudes, and capabilities and at linking that information to possible

careers and jobs. Considerable attention should be directed to giving employees continual feedback about

job performance and to counseling them about how to improve it. The supervisor-subordinate relationship

is especially important for these feedback and development activities.

People at the advancement stage are mainly concerned with getting ahead, discovering long-term career

options, and integrating career choices, such as transfers or promotions, with their personal lives. Here, the

company should provide employees with communication and counseling about challenging assignments

and

Table 19

Career Stages and Career Planning Issues

Career Stage

Career-Planning Issues

Establishment

What are alternative occupations, organizations and jobs?

What are my interests and capabilities?

How do I get the work accomplished?

Am I performing as expected?

Am I developing he necessary skills for advancement?

Advancement

Am I advancing as expected?

How can I advance more effectively?

What long-term options are available?

How do I get more exposure and visibility?

How do I develop more effective peer relationship?

How do I better integrate career choices with my personal life?

Maintenance

How do I help others become established and advance?

Should I reassess myself and my career?

Should I redirect my action?

Withdrawal

What are my interests outside of work?

What postretirement work options are available to me?

How can I be financially secure?

How can I continue to help others?

Application 9: Career Planning Centers at Pacific Bell

Pacific Bell, a Pacific Telesis company, provides local telephone products and services to residential and

business customers throughout California. The company operates ten career centers, each managed by an

on-site career development specialist with at least ten months of intensive on-the-job training. In addition,

the company operates two mobile vans that serve the career needs of employees in outlying areas.

Employees come to the center on their own or may be referred by their managers or a medical health

services counselor. Their visits are completely confidential.

Each center has a reference library of print, audio, and video resources on career planning, retirement

planning, job titles, and corporate culture. Employees have access to the company's job posting systems

and computerized, self-guided career-life planning programs. All of the center's resources are linked to the

corporate business plan. The center's staff also provides workshops on resume writing, interviewing, group

interpretation of career assessments, and career planning.

An employee can make an appointment with the career development specialist who will help him or her

examine personal skills, interests, abilities, and values and identify appropriate career choices. The

counseling process helps the worker answer the questions, "Who am 1? How am I seen? Where do I want

to go? How do I get there?"

The specialist will help employees research career options within the company or outside, if necessary, and

to appraise their skills and abilities realistically against the job requirements. Personal issues affecting career

options are considered and incorporated into each employee's individualized plan. Specialists also provide

ongoing support while employees are making job changes and transitions.

Brian Cowgill, the career counselor who provides clinical supervision to the northern California centers,

says that the centers were created in response to Pacific Bell's strategic changes as well as to changes in the

work environment and employees' values and needs. "Pacific Bell has changed its corporate mission to be

more focused on the customer," says Cowgill. "As a result, job descriptions and job duties have changed

Organization Development MGMT 628

for many employees. They are challenged to examine their interests and abilities in order to keep up with

the changing work environment."

In addition, employee values have shifted. For example, younger employees are challenging old

assumptions about work and are feeling the need to explore all the options open to them. Employee loyalty

and commitment are low, especially among the newly hired who have highly sought skills and knowledge.

A flattening of organizational structures leaves these employees with fewer opportunities for upward ad-

vancement, and they are actively making themselves available to the highest bidder. The career centers

enable these employees to discover how best to use their skills and abilities.

possibilities for more exposure and demonstration of skills. It should help clarify the range of possible

long-term career options and provide members with some idea about where they stand in achieving them.

Workshops, developmental materials, and assessment methods should be aimed at helping employees

develop wider collegial relationships, join with effective mentors and sponsors, and develop more creativity

and innovation. These activities also should help people assess both career and personal life spheres and

integrate them more successfully.

At the maintenance stage, individuals are concerned with helping newer employees become established and

grow in their careers. This phase also may involve a reassessment of self and career and a possible

redirection to something more rewarding. The firm should provide individuals with communications about

the broader organization and how their roles fit into it. Workshops, developmental materials, counseling,

and assessment techniques should be aimed at helping employees to assess and develop skills in order to

train and coach others. For those experiencing a midlife crisis, career planning activities should be directed

at helping them to reassess their circumstances and to develop in new directions. Midlife crises generally are

caused by perceived threats to people's career or family identities. Career planning should help people deal

effectively with identity issues, especially in the context of an ongoing career. This may include workshops

and close interpersonal counseling to help people confront identity issues and reorient their thinking about

themselves in relation to work and family. These activities also might help employees deal with the

emotions evoked by a midlife crisis and develop the skills and confidence to try something new.

Employees who are at the withdrawal stage can experience stress about disengaging from work and

establishing a secure leisure life. Here, the company should provide communications and counseling about

options for postretirement work and financial security, and it should convey the message that the

employee's experience in the organization is still valued. Retirement planning workshops and materials can

help employees gain the skills and information necessary to make a successful transition from work to non

work life. They can prepare people to shift their attention away from the organization to other interests and

activities.

Effective career planning and development requires a comprehensive program integrating both corporate

business objectives and employee career needs. This is accomplished through human resources planning

aimed at developing and maintaining a workforce to meet business objectives. It includes recruiting new

talent, matching people to jobs, helping them develop careers and perform effectively, and preparing them

for satisfactory retirement. Career planning activities feed into and support career development and human

resources planning activities.

Career Development:

Career development helps individuals achieve their career objectives. It follows closely from career

planning and includes organizational practices that help employees implement those plans. These may

include skill training, performance feedback and coaching, planned job rotation, mentoring, and continuing

education.

Career development can be integrated with people's career needs by linking it to different career stages. As

described earlier, employees progress through distinct career stages, each with unique issues relevant to

career planning: establishment, advancement, maintenance, arid withdrawal. Career development

interventions help members implement these plans. Table 20 identifies career development interventions,

lists the career stages to which they are most relevant, and defines their key purposes and intended

outcomes. It shows that career development practices may apply to one or more career stages. Performance

feedback and coaching, for example, are relevant to both the establishment and advancement stages. Career

development interventions also can serve a variety of purposes, such as helping members identify a career

path or providing feedback on career progress and work effectiveness. They can contribute to different

organizational outcomes such as lowering turnover and costs and enhancing member satisfaction.

Career development interventions traditionally have been applied to younger employees who have a longer

time period to contribute to the firm than do older members. Managers often stereotype older employees

as being less

Organization Development MGMT 628

Table 20

Career Development Interventions

Intervention

Career Stage

Purpose

Intended outcomes

Realistic job preview

Establishment

to provide members

Reduce turnover

Advancement

with

accurate

Reduce training costs

expectation of work

Increase commitment

requirements

Increase job satisfaction

Job pathing

Establishment

To provide members

Reduce turnover

Advancement

with a sequence of work

Build

organizational

assignments leading to a

knowledge

career objective

Performance

feedback Establishment

To provide members

Increase productivity

and coaching

Advancement

with knowledge about

Increase job satisfaction

their career progress and

Monitor

human

work effectiveness

resources development

Assessment centers

Establishment

To select and develop

Increase person-job fit

Advancement

members for managerial

Identify high-potential

and technical jobs

candidates

Mentoring

Establishment

link

less-

Increase job satisfaction

Advancement

experienced

member

Increase

member

Maintenance

with a more-experienced

motivation

member for member

development

Developmental training

Establishment

To provide education

Increase organizational

Advancement

and

training

capability

Maintenance

opportunities that help

members achieve career

goals

Work-life

balance Establishment

help

members

Improve quality of life

planning

Advancement

balance

work

and

Increase productivity

Maintenance

personal goals

Job

rotation

and Advancement

To provide members

Increase job satisfaction

challenging assignments Maintenance

with interesting work

Maintain

member

motivation

Dual-career

Advancement

To assist members with Attract and retain high-

accommodations

Maintenance

significant others to find quality members

satisfying

work Increase job satisfaction

assignments

Consultative roles

Maintenance

To help members fill Increase

problem-

Withdrawal

productive roles later in solving capacity

their careers

Increase job satisfaction

Phased retirement

Withdrawal

To assist members in Increase job satisfaction

moving into retirement

Lower stress during

transition

creative, alert, and productive than younger workers and consequently provide them with less career

development support.10 Similarly, Table 20 suggests that the OD field has been relatively lax in developing

methods for helping older members cope with the withdrawal stage because only two of the eleven

interventions presented there apply to the withdrawal stage--consultative roles and phased retirement. This

relative neglect can be expected to change in the near future; however, as the U.S. workforce continues to

grey. To sustain a highly committed and motivated workforce, organizations increasingly will have to

address the career needs of older employees. They will have to recognize and reward the contributions that

older workers make to the company. Workforce diversity interventions, discussed later in this chapter, are a

positive step in that direction.

Realistic Job Preview:

This intervention provides organization members with realistic expectations about the job during the

recruitment process. It provides recruits with information about whether the job is likely to be consistent

Organization Development MGMT 628

with their needs and career plans. Such knowledge is especially useful during the establishment stage, when

people are most in need of realistic information about organizations and jobs. It also can help employees

during the advancement stage, when job changes are likely to occur because of promotion.

Research suggests that people may develop unrealistic expectations about the organization and job. They

can suffer from "reality shock" when those expectations are not fulfilled and may leave the organization or

stay and become disgruntled and unmotivated. To overcome these problems, organizations such as Texas

Instruments, Prudential Insurance, and Johnson & Johnson provide new recruits with information about

both the positive and negative aspects of the company and the job. They furnish recruits with booklets,

talks, and site visits showing what organizational life is really like. Such information reduces the chances

that employees will develop unrealistic job expectations and become disgruntled and leave the company.

This can lead to reduced turnover and training costs, and increased organizational commitment and job

satisfaction.

Job Pathing:

This intervention provides members with a carefully developed sequence of work assignments leading to a

career objective, although the notion of a job path in the new economy is being challenged. It helps

members in the establishment and advancement stages of their careers. Job pathing helps employees

develop skills, knowledge, and competencies by performing jobs that require new skills and abilities.

Research suggests that employees who receive challenging job assignments early in their careers do better in

later jobs. Career pathing allows for a gradual stretching of people's talents by moving them through

selected jobs of increasing challenge and responsibility. As a person gains experience and demonstrates

competence in the job, she or he moves to another job with more advanced skills and knowledge.

Performing well on one job increases the chance of being assigned to a more demanding job.

The keys to effective job pathing are to identify the skills an employee needs for a certain target job and

then to lay out a sequence of interim jobs that will provide those experiences. The interim jobs should

provide enough challenge to stretch a person's learning capacity without overwhelming the employee or

withholding the target job too long. Some banks, for example, have used job pathing to provide employees

with a specific series of jobs for learning how to become a branch manager. In one Los Angeles bank, the

jobs in the path include teller, loan officer, credit manager, and commercial loan manager. Job pathing

reduces turnover by offering opportunities for advancement. It also can build organizational knowledge. As

employees advance along career paths, they gain skills and experience to resolve organizational problems,

to assist in large-scale organization change, and to transfer their accumulated knowledge to new members.

Performance Feedback and Coaching:

One of the most effective interventions during the establishment and advancement phases includes

feedback about job performance and coaching to improve performance. Employees need continual

feedback about goal achievement as well as necessary support and coaching to improve their performances.

Feedback and coaching are particularly relevant when employees are establishing careers. They have

concerns about how to perform the work, whether they are performing up to expectations, and whether

they are gaining the necessary skills for advancement. A manager can facilitate career establishment by

providing feedback on performance, coaching, and on-the-job training. These activities can help

Application 10: Realistic job Preview at Nissan

James Mandelker had two minutes to grab fifty-five nuts, bolts, and washers; assemble them in groups of

five; and attach them in order of size to a metal rack. But he fumbled nervously with several pieces and

finished the task seconds after his allotted time. "I've got to get a little better at this, don't I?" he frowned,

as he pulled the last of the fasteners out of a grimy plastic tray. His tester, Gloria Macaluso, encouraged

him: "You're close. For the first night, you're probably doing a little better than normal."

James is trying to get a job at the Nissan Motor Manufacturing Corporation plant in Smyrna, Tennessee.

The thirty-one-year-old department-store employee will be devoting seventy hours worth of his nights and

weekends during the next few months doing similar exercises. James and about 270 other job seekers are

participating in Nissan's preemployment program. In exchange for a shot at highly paid assembly-line jobs

and Nissan's promise not to inform their employers, these moonlighters will work as many as 360 hours

without being paid. They will be tested and instructed in employment fundamentals by the Japanese

automaker. "We hope the process makes it plain to people what the job is," says Thomas P. Groom,

Nissan's manager of employment. "It's an indoctrination process as well as a screening tool."

Not all participants are fully satisfied with the program. One candidate who works as a machine adjuster at

an envelope factory says the long pre-employment period "worries you, because you get your hopes up."

And some candidates bemoan the lack of pay for their time. But many participants feel that the training and

experience outweigh the unpaid work required to get hired. For one thing, they get a shot at some of the

Organization Development MGMT 628

best-paying jobs in the state. If they are not hired, they can take elsewhere the skills they have learned there.

Loraine Olsen, a press operator who went through the program, said, "It gave me a chance to see what

Nissan expected of me without their having to make a commitment to me or me to them."

Employees get the job done while meeting their career development needs. Companies such as Intel and

Monsanto, for example, use performance feedback and coaching for employee career development. They

separate the career development aspect of performance appraisal from the salary review component, thus

ensuring that employees' career needs receive as much attention as salary issues. Feedback and coaching

interventions can increase employee performance and satisfaction, and provide a systematic way to monitor

the development of human resources in the firm.

Assessment Centers:

This intervention was traditionally designed to help organizations select and develop employees with high

potential for managerial jobs. More recently, assessment centers have been extended to career development

and to selection of people to fit new work designs, such as self-managing teams. When used to evaluate

managerial capability, assessment centers typically process twelve to fifteen people at a time and require

them to spend two to three days on site. Participants are given a comprehensive interview, take several tests

of mental ability and knowledge, and participate in individual and group exercises intended to simulate

managerial work. An assessment team consisting of experienced managers and human resources specialists

observes the behaviors and performance of each candidate. This team arrives at an overall assessment of

each participant's managerial potential, including a rating on several items believed to be relevant to

managerial success in the organization, and pass the results to management for use in making promotion

decisions.

Assessment centers have been applied to career development as well, where the emphasis is on feedback of

results to participants. Trained staff helps participants hear and understand feedback about their strong and

weak points. They help participants become clearer about career advancement and identify training experi-

ences and job assignments to promote that progress. When used for developmental purposes, assessment

centers can provide employees with the support and direction needed for career development. They can

demonstrate that the company is a partner rather than an adversary in that process. Although assessment

centers can help people's careers at all stages of development, they seem particularly useful at the

advancement stage, when employees need to assess their talents and capabilities in light of long-term career

commitments. Research suggests that assessment centers can promote career advancement to the extent

that participants are willing to work on the center's recommendations for development. When participants

develop themselves in such areas as clarity about career motivation and ability to work with others, their

probability of promotion increases.

Assessment centers are being used increasingly to select members for new work designs. They provide

comprehensive information about how recruits are likely to perform in such settings, which can increase

the fit between the employee and the job and consequently lead to higher levels of employee performance

and satisfaction. Application 18.4 shows how such centers can be used for selection purposes in a team-

based organization. It illustrates how this intervention can help organizations select the right people,

shorten training cycles, and improve productivity.

Mentoring:

One of the most useful ways to help employees advance in their careers is sponsorship. This involves

establishing a close link between a manager or someone more experienced and another organization

member who is less experienced. Mentoring is a powerful intervention that assists members in the

establishment, advancement, and maintenance stages of their careers. For those in the establishment stage,

a sponsor or mentor takes a personal interest in the employee's career and guides and sponsors it. This

ensures that a person's hard work and skill translate into actual opportunities for promotion and

advancement. For older employees in the maintenance stage, mentoring provides opportunities to share

knowledge and experience with others who are less experienced. Older managers may mentor younger

employees who are in the establishment and advancement career stages. Mentors do not have to be the

direct supervisors of the younger employees but can be hierarchically or functionally distant from them.

Other mentoring opportunities include temporarily assigning veteran managers to newer managers to help

them gain managerial skills and knowledge. For example, during the startup of a new manufacturing plant,

the plant manager, who was in the advancement career stage, was assisted by a veteran with years of

experience in manufacturing management. The veteran was temporarily located at the new plant to help the

plant manager develop the skills and knowledge to get the plant operating and to manage it. Once a month,

a consultant helped the two managers examine their relationship and set action plans for improving the

mentoring process.

Organization Development MGMT 628

Several of Boeing's divisions have well-developed mentoring processes. High-potential members are

identified and paired with a corporate manager who volunteers to be a mentor. The mentor helps the

employee gain the skills, experience, and visibility necessary for advancement in the company. Senior

executives strongly support the mentoring program and believe that it is necessary for managerial success.

They believe that "mentoring improves the pool of talent for management and technical jobs and helps to

shape future leaders. It is also an effective vehicle for moving knowledge through the organization from the

people who have the most experience.

Application 11: Assessment Center for Employee Selection at Hamilton-Standard

The Hamilton-Standard Commercial Aircraft Electronics Division of United Technologies manufactures

environmental and jet engine control systems for commercial aerospace applications. In 1991, the division

moved to Colorado Springs when it was awarded a contract on the Boeing 777. To achieve demanding

standards of quality, cost, and time, Hamilton-Standard used a high-involvement work design. This design

included a relatively flat hierarchy and self-managed work teams composed of members who were certified

in a variety of technical, business, and interpersonal skills. The teams were highly flexible and able to follow

the product through all areas of production. Although a number of workers, staff members, and managers

moved with the division to Colorado Springs, the increased scale of operations needed for the Boeing

contract required hiring and training a large number of new team members over the next eighteen to

twenty-four months--a daunting task in a new geographic location.

To find the right people for the team-based structure, Hamilton-Standard created an assessment center. It

was run by division personnel, including existing team members, staff, and managers, who underwent

extensive training to learn how to review resumes, conduct interviews, and assess experiential exercises.

The assessment center included a number of activities aimed at evaluating the ability of job applicants to

work in teams, make decisions, and learn new skills.

Preliminary assessment began with an information session for candidates who submitted resumes to the

division. Groups of about 150 applicants engaged in an interactive, two-hour meeting that addressed the

firm's products and expectations for new employees. Candidates also discovered what they could expect

from Hamilton-Standard in terms of compensation, benefits, work environment, and developmental

opportunities. At the end of the session, participants were invited to complete formal job applications,

which subsequently were reviewed to identify high-potential candidates who would be asked to participate

in the center's evaluation process.

The assessment center was designed to evaluate sixty-five to seventy candidates in a single day--typically a

Saturday, to accommodate recruits who were employed elsewhere. In the week before they attended the

center, candidates completed a battery of tests that measured generic work skills, social competence, and

mathematical knowledge. These assessments helped Hamilton-Standard identify applicants' strengths and

weaknesses and became part of the data subsequently used to accept or reject candidates.

At the assessment center, candidates underwent two interviews--one oriented to technical competence and

the other to business knowledge. They also participated in a team-consensus exercise aimed at assessing

team skills and decision-making capability. The technical interview presented candidates with a flowchart of

the manufacturing process and asked them to identify areas in which they could add value. Their responses

enabled interviewers to assess technical depth and breadth, ability to learn, and desire to be cross-

functional. The business interview evaluated candidates' understanding of material flow processes,

configuration management, computers, finance, and human resources practices. In the consensus exercise,

participants worked in small teams to build a model airplane. Their behaviors were observed and assessed

on such team-performance criteria as participation, support of the process, interpersonal skills, quality of

thought, and flexibility.

At the conclusion of the assessment center activities, results of the tests, interviews, and exercise were

entered into a spreadsheet to facilitate comparison among candidates and to help focus selection decisions.

Evaluators then met as a team to examine the records, to discuss each candidate, and to make final

selections. Consistent with Hamilton-Standard's team-based culture, all hiring decisions were made by

group consensus.

The assessment center enabled Hamilton-Standard to recruit extremely capable people who fit well with a

team-based work structure. In less than two years, the division was able to hire, train, and retain a talented,

cross-functional workforce with certified skills covering more than fifty-two areas. To date, the teams have

been effective at improving customer-acceptance rates while lowering costs, thus making Hamilton-

Standard a highly competitive supplier of aerospace electronics.

Research suggests that mentoring is relatively prevalent in organizations. A survey of 1,250 top executives

showed that about two-thirds had a mentor or sponsor during their early career stages, when learning,

growth, and advancement were most prominent. The executives reported that effective mentors were

Organization Development MGMT 628

willing to share knowledge and experience, were knowledgeable about the company and the use of power,

and were good counselors. In contrast to executives who did not have mentors, those having them received

slightly more compensation, had more advanced college degrees, had engaged in career planning prior to

mentoring, and were more satisfied with their careers and their work.

Although research shows that mentoring can have positive outcomes, artificially creating such relationships

when they do not occur naturally is difficult. Some organizations have developed workshops in which

managers are trained to become effective mentors. Others, such as IBM and AT&T, include mentoring as a

key criterion for paying and promoting managers. In a growing number of cases, companies are creating

special mentoring programs for women and minorities who have traditionally had difficulties cultivating

developmental relationships.

Developmental Training:

This intervention helps employees gain the skills and knowledge for training and coaching others. It may

include workshops and training materials oriented to human relations, communications, active listening,

and mentoring. It can also involve substantial investments in education, such as tuition reimbursement pro-

grams that assist members in achieving advanced degrees. Developmental training interventions generally

are aimed at increasing the organization's reservoir of skills and knowledge. This enhances its capability to

implement personal and organizational strategies.

A large number of organizations offer developmental training programs, including Procter & Gamble,

Cisco Systems, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard. Many of these efforts are directed at mid-career managers who

generally have good technical skills but only rudimentary experience in coaching others. In-house

developmental training typically involves preparatory reading, short lectures, experiential exercises, and case

studies on such topics as active listening, defensive communication, personal problem solving, and

supportive relationships. Participants may be videotaped training and coaching others, and the tapes may be

reviewed and critiqued by participants and staff. Classroom learning is often rotated with on-the-job expe-

riences, and there is considerable follow-up and recycling of learning. Numerous consulting firms also offer

workshops and structured learning materials on developmental training, and an extensive practical literature

exists in this area.

Work-Life Balance Planning:

This relatively new OD intervention helps employees better integrate and balance work and home life.

Restructuring, downsizing, and increased global competition have contributed to longer work hours and

more stress. Baby-boomers approaching fifty years of age and others are rethinking their priorities and

seeking to restore some balance in a work-dominated life. Organizations, such as Corning Glass Works,

Hewlett-Packard, Infonet, and the City of Phoenix, are responding to these concerns so they can attract,

retain, and motivate the best workforce. More balanced work and family lives can benefit both employees

and the company through increased creativity, morale, and effectiveness, and reduced turnover.

Work-life balance planning involves a variety of programs to help members better manage the interface

between work and family. These include such organizational practices as flexible hours, job sharing, and

day care, as well as interventions to help employees identify and achieve both career and family goals. A

popular program is called middlaning, a metaphor for a legitimate, alternative career track that

acknowledges choices about living life in the "fast lane Middlaning helps people redesign their work and

income-generating activities so that more time and energy are available for family and personal needs. It

involves education in work addiction, guilt, anxiety, and perfectionism; skill development in work contract

negotiation; examination of alternatives such as changing careers, freelancing, and entrepreneuring; and

exploration of options for controlling financial pressures by improving income/expense ratios, limiting

"black hole" worries such as college tuition for children and retirement expenses, and replacing financial

worrying with financial planning. Because concerns about work-life balance are unlikely to abate and may

even increase in the near future, we can expect requisite OD interventions, such as middlaning, to

proliferate throughout the public and private sectors.

Job Rotation and Challenging Assignments:

The purpose of these interventions is to provide employees with the experience and visibility needed for

career advancement or with the challenge needed to revitalize a stagnant career at the maintenance stage.

Unlike job pathing, which specifies a sequence of jobs to reach a career objective, job rotation and

challenging assignments are less planned and may not be as oriented to promotion opportunities.

Members in the advancement stage may be moved into new job areas after they have demonstrated

competence in a particular work specialty. Companies such as Corning Glass Works, Hewlett-Packard,

American Crystal Sugar Company, and Fidelity Investments identify "comers" (managers under forty years

Organization Development MGMT 628

old with potential for assuming top management positions) and "hipos" (high-potential candidates) and

provide them with cross-divisional job experiences during the advancement stage. These job transfers

provide managers with a broader range of skills and knowledge as well as opportunities to display their

managerial talent to a wider audience of corporate executives. Such exposure helps the organization identify

members who are capable of handling senior executive responsibilities; it helps the members decide

whether to seek promotion to higher positions or to particular departments. To reduce the risk of

transferring employees across divisions or functions, some firms, such as Procter & Gamble, Heublein, and

Continental Can, have created "fallback positions. These jobs are identified before the transfer, and

employees are guaranteed that they can return to them without negative consequences if the transfers or

promotions do not work out. Fallback positions reduce the risk that employees in the advancement stage

will become trapped in a new job assignment that is neither challenging nor highly visible in the company.

In the maintenance stage, challenging assignments can help revitalize veteran employees by providing

them with new challenges and opportunities for learning and contribution. Research on enriched jobs

suggests that people are most responsive to them during the first one to three years on a job, when

enriched jobs are likely to be seen as challenging and motivating. People who have leveled off and remain

on enriched jobs for three years or more tend to become unresponsive to them. They are no longer

motivated and satisfied by jobs that may no longer seem enriched. One way to prevent this loss of job

motivation, especially among mid-career employees who are likely to remain on jobs for longer periods of

time than people in the establishment and advancement phases, is to rotate workers to new, more

challenging jobs at about three-year intervals, or to redesign their jobs at those times. Such job changes

would keep employees responsive to challenging jobs and sustain motivation and satisfaction during the

maintenance phase.

A growing body of research suggests that "plateaued employees" (those with little chance of further

advancement) can have satisfying and productive careers if they accept their new role in the company and

are given challenging assignments with high performance standards. Planned rotation to jobs requiring new

skills can provide that challenge. However, a firm's business strategy and humans resources philosophy

must reinforce lateral (as opposed to strictly vertical) job changes if plateaued employees are to adapt

effectively to their new jobs. Firms with business strategies emphasizing stability and efficiency of

operations, such as the U.S. Post Office and McDonald's, are likely to have more plateaued employees at

the maintenance stage than are companies with strategies promoting development and growth, such as

Microsoft and Intel. The human resources systems of firms with stable growth strategies should be

especially aimed at helping plateaued employees lower their aspirations for promotion and withdraw from

the tournament mobility track. Moreover, such firms should enforce high performance standards so that

high-performing plateaued employees (solid citizens) are rewarded, and low performers (deadwood) are

encouraged to seek help or to leave the firm.

Dual-Career Accommodations:

These are practices for helping employees cope with the problems inherent in "dual careers"--that is, both

the employee and a spouse or significant other pursuing full-time careers. Dual careers are becoming more

prevalent as women increasingly enter the workforce. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that more

than 80 percent of all marriages involve dual careers. Although these interventions can apply to all career

stages, they are especially relevant during advancement. One of the biggest problems created by dual

careers is job transfers, which are likely to occur during the advancement stage. Transfer to another

location usually means that the working partner must also relocate. In many cases, the company employing

the partner must either lose the employee or arrange a transfer to the same location. Similar problems can

occur in recruiting employees. A recruit may not join an organization if its location does not provide career

opportunities for the partner.

Because partners' careers can affect the recruitment and advancement of employees, organizations are

devising policies to accommodate dual-career employees. A survey of companies reported the following

dual-career accommodations: recognition of problems in dual careers, help with relocation, flexible working

hours, counseling for dual-career employees, family daycare centers, improved career planning, and policies

making it easier for two members of the same family to work in the same organization or department.

Some companies have also established cooperative arrangements with other firms to provide sources of

employment for the other partner. General Electric, for example, has created a network with other firms to

share information about job opportunities for dual-career couples.

Consultative Roles:

These provide late-career employees with opportunities to apply their wisdom and knowledge to helping

others develop in their careers and solve organizational problems. Such roles, which can be structured

around specific projects or problems, involve Offering advice and expertise to those responsible for

resolving the issues. For example, a large aluminum forging manufacturer was having problems developing

Organization Development MGMT 628

accurate estimates of the cost of producing new products. The sales and estimating departments lacked the

production experience to make accurate bids for potential new business, thus either losing customers or

losing money on products. The company temporarily assigned an old-line production manager who was

nearing retirement to consult with the salespeople and estimators about bidding on new business. The

consultant applied his years of forging experience to help the sales and estimating people make more

accurate estimates. In about a year, the sales staff and estimators gained the skills and invaluable knowledge

necessary to make more accurate bids. Perhaps equally important, the pre-retirement production manager

felt that he had made a significant contribution to the company--something he had not experienced for

years.

In contrast to mentoring roles, consultative roles are not focused directly on guiding or sponsoring younger

employees' careers. They are directed at helping others deal with complex problems or projects. Similarly,

in contrast to managerial positions, consultative roles do not include the performance evaluation and

control inherent in being a manager. They are based more on wisdom and experience than on authority.

Consequently, consultative roles provide an effective transition for moving pre-retirement managers into

more support-staff positions. They free up managerial positions for younger employees while allowing

older managers to apply their experience and skills in a more supportive and less threatening way than

might be possible from a strictly managerial role.

When implemented well, consultative roles can increase the organization's problem-solving capacity. They

enable experienced employees to apply their skills and knowledge to resolving important problems, and can

increase members' work satisfaction in the maintenance or withdrawal career stages. They provide senior

employees with meaningful work as they begin to move from the workforce to retirement.

Phased Retirement:

This provides older employees with an effective way of withdrawing from the organization and establishing

a productive leisure life. It includes various forms of part-time work. Employees gradually devote less of

their time to the organization and more time to leisure pursuits (which to some might include developing a

new career). Phased retirement allows older employees to make a gradual transition from organizational to

leisure life. It enables them to continue contributing to the firm while it gives them time to establish

themselves outside of work. For example, people may use the extra time off work to take courses, to gain

new skills and knowledge, and to create opportunities for productive leisure. IBM, for example, offers

tuition rebates for courses on any topic taken within three years of retirement. Many IBM pre-retirees have

used this program to prepare for second careers.

Equally important, phased retirement lessens the reality shock often experienced by those who retire all at

once. It helps employees grow accustomed to leisure life and withdraw emotionally from the organization.

A growing number of companies have some form of phased retirement.

Organization Decline and Career Halt:

Decreasing and uneven demand for products and services; growing numbers of mergers, acquisitions,

divestitures, and failures; and increasing restructurings to operate leaner and more efficiently have resulted

in layoffs, reduced job opportunities, and severe career disruptions for a large number of managers and

employees.

People inevitably experience a halt in their career development and progression, resulting in dangerous

increases in personal stress, financial and family disruption, and loss of self-esteem. Fortunately, a growing

number of organizations are managing decline in ways that are effective for both the organization and the

employee.

Organizations have also developed human resources practices for managing decline in those situations

where layoffs are unavoidable, such as plant closings, divestitures, and business failures. The following

methods can help people deal more effectively with layoffs and premature career halts:

· Equitable layoff policies spread throughout organizational ranks, rather than focused on specific

levels of employees, such as shop-floor workers or middle managers

· Keeping people informed about organizational problems and possibilities of layoffs so that they

can reduce ambiguity and prepare themselves for job changes

· Setting realistic expectations, rather than offering excessive hope and promises, so that employees

can plan for the organization's future and for their own

· Generous relocation and transfer policies that help people make the transition to a new work

situation

· Helping people find new jobs, including outplacement services and retraining

· Treating people with dignity and respect, rather than belittling or humiliating them because they

are unfortunate enough to be in a declining business that can no longer afford to employ them.

Organization Development MGMT 628

In today's environment, organization decline, downsizing, and restructuring will continue. OD practitioners

are likely to become increasingly involved in helping people manage career dislocation and halt.

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