Concept of Career Planning

In order to develop the organization, career planning is very much essential. Unless and until employees are developed, productivity, motivation and satisfaction can’t be increased. Career planning are important because consequences of career success and failure are linked with each individual self identity and satisfaction with career and life. Without

career planning, people do not like to work in organization. Individual first seek, whether there are an opportunity to grow job skill, techniques, to up grade position or not (career development or not). If he/she does not find this opportunity, he does not work there and jump to another organization where he gets his career aspiration.

Need for Career Planning in Organization
The need can be pointed out as follows:

1. Select Career Goals: A career involves all the jobs that are held during one’s working life. Employee need to predetermine desired future positions they strive to reach as a path of career. Career planning is needed to select career goals.
2. Select Career Path: Employees need to select career path to achieve career goals. Career path denotes sequential pattern of jobs during an employee’s career. Career planning is needed to decide appropriate career path.
3. Motivate Employees for Career Development: Career planning forces employees to set career goals and work to achieve them. It is needed to motivate employees for career development through further education, training and other developmental activities.
4. Meet Internal Staffing Needs: Career planning is needed to meet internal staffing needs of the organization. This provides the organization with a larger pool of qualified applicants. It is needed to implement human resource plan.
5. Reduce Employee Turnover: Best employees have the greatest career mobility. An effective career planning is needed to retain such employees in the organization by reducing their turnover.
6. Satisfy Employee Needs: Career planning is needed to satisfy the higher level needs of employees such as esteem and self-development needs leading to promotion, responsibility, achievement etc.
7. Identify Training and Development Needs: Career planning is needed to identify training and development needs of employees. It is also needed for career development.

Purpose of Career Planning
Career planning plans and shapes the progression of individuals within an organization in accordance with assessments of organizational needs and the performance, potential and preferences of individual members of the enterprise.

Career planning serves following purpose:
Make or buy decision the organization needs to decide on the extent to which it makes or grows its own managers (a promotion from within policy): recruits or buys in deliberately from outside (bringing ‘fresh blood’ into the organization). This means adopting a policy that accepts a reasonable amount of wastage and even takes seep in good time to encourage people. Fairly gently to develop their career elsewhere if they are in danger of stagnating will have to buy in talent from outside because of future short falls in the availability of managers, as revealed by demand and supply forecasts.

Objectives of Career Planning
Career planning is done to fulfill the following three objectives

1. To ensure that the organization’s needs for management succession are satisfied. 
2. To provide men and women of promise with a sequence of training and experience that will equip them for whatever level of responsibility they have the ability to reach.
3. To give individuals with potential the guidance and encouragement they need if they are to fulfill their potential and achieve a successful career either the organization in tune with their talents and aspirations.