What Are Career Development Models?

An enterprise's career development and management of employees must be based on an understanding of individual career development. Only by grasping the characteristics of individual career development and understanding the employees' professional needs, can it be possible to organically integrate organizational goals and individual goals to improve employee work And career satisfaction. Most of the early professional development theoretical models were based on the individual's physiological development stages, and explored the career development characteristics of employees at each age stage. However, this theoretical orientation has become inappropriate due to the drastic changes in the external environment of enterprises (Herriot & Pemberton, 1996). The theoretical world now understands the career development of employees from a triangle model: the processes and behaviors at the organizational level, the individual level, and the connection level.

Individual career development model

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An enterprise's career development and management of employees must be based on an understanding of individual career development. Only by grasping the characteristics of individual career development and understanding the employees' professional needs, can it be possible to organically integrate organizational goals and individual goals to improve employee work And career satisfaction. Most of the early professional development theoretical models were based on the individual's physiological development stages, and explored the career development characteristics of employees at each age stage. However, this theoretical orientation has become inappropriate due to the drastic changes in the external environment of enterprises (Herriot & Pemberton, 1996). The theoretical world now understands the career development of employees from a triangle model: the processes and behaviors at the organizational level, the individual level, and the connection level.

Dalton and Tompson (1986) explored the individual's career development stage from the perspective of organization and individual interaction. They divided the individual's career development into four stages:

The main task of the first phase is to establish self-awareness. Dalton et al. Believe that participating in work is a key stage for an individual to establish self-awareness. From his own work experience and feedback from others, the individual begins to clarify who I am. Super (1957) also took self-concept as a core structure of his career development model. The importance of this self-awareness can be clearly seen in the unemployed. Eisenberg and Lazersfed found that the unemployed often lose their sense of time, and the loss of work is accompanied by family tension, decline in individual self-esteem, and emotional confusion. .

Dalton et al. Believe that the main task of the second stage of individual professional development is to develop capabilities. After individuals have established proper role awareness, organizations provide individuals with opportunities to demonstrate and improve their abilities. For most people, organizations not only provide such opportunities, but also support and reinforce this behavior. Individuals need to learn to manage themselves and time, effectively handle raw materials, information, customer and colleague relationships, gain organizational trust, and gain self-esteem and respect from others in successful work experience.

The main task of the third phase is to build a co-developed relationship with others. During this period, individuals need to be able to establish a mutually reinforcing working relationship with others, which is a very important factor affecting individual career development. Levinson (1978) also emphasized in his professional theory the crucial role of the teaching relationship between young people and experienced seniors (such as teachers, supervisors, colleagues, etc.) on their development. A study by Kaner (1977) found that if companies provide too few development opportunities, employees will divert their attention from the organization, reduce their participation in the work, and seek external recognition. Therefore, enterprises should pay attention to their work design, so as to facilitate employees to establish a working relationship with others. Provide a supportive environment for employees' career development.

Dalton et al. Believe that when individuals start to provide strategic direction for enterprises and exercise power on behalf of organizations, their career development has entered the fourth stage. Its development task is to learn how to exercise power on behalf of the organization. The power of the organization represents a trust, a recognition of individual capabilities. Organizations want this kind of power to go beyond the interests of individuals and families, rather than using the power in their hands for their own benefit. Whether this power can be used reasonably is a key factor affecting the further development of individual occupations.

In the model based on individual differences, the practical significance of Schein's (1978) occupational anchor theory is particularly obvious. By studying the socialization process of individuals and the formation of psychological contracts, he is committed to seeking the combination of individual needs and organizational requirements. He believes that an individual's professional goal is the result of collecting personal activity information, and this information mainly comes from two aspects: actual work experience and self-evaluation. Individuals use this to evaluate the degree of matching of job opportunities provided by enterprises with their own professional design. The establishment of this dialogue mechanism is the central link in the enterprise human resources planning and development system, and it is related to the effectiveness of the company's human resources management policies.

Schein (1978) conducted a longitudinal follow-up study of 44 MBA students for 10-12 years. The survey found that although personal work experiences are not the same, there are similarities in their reasons for explaining their career decisions. Therefore, he summarized the deep causes of individual career choices into five categories, and proposed the concept of career anchors: the pursuit of technical / functional competency, management competency, security / stability, and innovation creativity), autonomy / independence. The career anchor concept has three significant characteristics: (1) it is a self-perceived quality and ability, derived from past achievements in work; (2) it is a self-perceived motivation and need, derived from realization Self-diagnosis and feedback from others; (3) It is the attitude and values that it feels, and it is formed by the individual in interaction with various organizational rules and regulations. Therefore, the concept of occupational anchor is broader than the meaning of values. It emphasizes the formation process in actual work and the feedback role of the external environment in this process.

In the professional management of an enterprise, an important aspect is to realize that there is a strong, non-material component in the factors affecting employee satisfaction, and the occupation anchor theory provides a way to understand these factors. Barth (1993) believes that these factors help companies to take targeted measures to improve the effectiveness of professional management. Derr (1986) believes that the effectiveness of occupational support measures can be determined according to the characteristics of each occupational anchor type employee. For example, the evaluation center technology is suitable for employees who pursue technical skills and personal development; career counseling is more suitable for employees who seek safety; and providing different career pathway information is more conducive to groups seeking individual job development and personal freedom.

Both career development models are based on interactions between individuals and organizations. Dalton et al. S career stage model focuses on answering the main problems that individuals need to solve at each stage of their careers, and the corresponding psychological characteristics; while Schein's career anchor theory focuses on the actual impact of this interaction on individual career development , Analyze the key factors for individuals to make career decisions. The starting points of the two models are the same; however, their emphasis is different.