Analyzed and Discussed Self Career management †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Self Career management. Answer: Introduction People demonstrate three type of career self-managing behavior that includes positioning, influence and boundary management. The behavior of the people eliminates any existing carrier barriers and provides a vocational adjustment. Career self management has become one of the integral aspects of professionals that helps to develop goal for an individual along with a layout plan by assessing ones strengths and weaknesses. After effective planning and evaluating, one is able to successfully execute his/her career plan in a smooth fashion that eventually leads to career advancement and brings career satisfaction to the employee. Thus, career self management is a process through which an individual collects relevant information that is required for career progression through self assessment and identifying opportunities. As the case study illustrates the career life of Dave Armstrong, who was born and brought up in Texas and became the President of a subsidiary company of Thorne Enterprises. After making consistent efforts for eighteen months, Dave left the company to join life insurance business and lead a comfortable life. In Spite of earning a handsome salary, Dave faced the challenge of not been able to take a vacation with his new job. After working day and night for insurance job, Dave got accepted into Harvard Business Review. Now he has to make a career decision between three jobs prospects that seems attractive to Dave. Dave is confused between the three job prospects as the job he chooses is going to define his future career and an inappropriate decision could mess up his future career prospects. The report would aim to discuss the above case by analyzing all the three different job opportunities that Dave has as of present in order to provide suitable recommendations based on the theories discussed in literature review. Literature Review: Scope Career self management is the process of gathering the relevant information regarding ones career through self assessment and recognizing opportunities. This section would try to cover the importance of career development and making an intelligent career choice by applying the existing knowledge. The literature review would also encompass employability skills and factors for an individual. Further, work life balance would be illustratively presented to demonstrate the importance of managing career in an individuals life. Career Development According to Inkson (2007), there are various stages of career in an individuals life that could either be because of various roles available in the society or persons physical change over a period of time. He described theory of career development, which was discovered by Donald Super, as a framework for career guidance by focusing on the attributes and development of individuals. The theory stated that each and every profession has a unique requirement in terms of personal characteristics and the people are attracted towards these characteristics. The author focused on work roles of an individual that could vary from family role to professional role and emphasized on balancing ones personal life with the job. The authors Arthur, Khapova Richardson (2017), illustrate through various case studies and examples how an individual can take ownership of work and life by making an intelligent career choice. The authors have very well described an intelligent career that involves the knowledge of an individual acquired over the period of years. The authors have also focused on the working style and methods that involves the application of the acquired knowledge and knowledge extension through consistent learning process. According to the authors Inkson Arthur (2001), in order to manage the career one must skillfully match individual and organization needs. The authors have described the processes of investment, portfolio development, capital growth that leads to career advancement. According to Briscoe et al (2012), there are two major career concepts including protean career and boundaryless career. Protean career has a value driven approach and is independent of the external career influences. A boundaryless career does not perceive structural constraints and the decision is taken by considering all the aspects that could include work family reasons. The authors construed that boundaryless employees are not necessarily less committed to the organization. The authors Briscoe Finkelstein (2009), also supported the idea that boundaryless career and protean career attitudes are differentially correlated. Rodrigues Guest (2010) stated that the concept of boundaryless career is fuzzy by drawing the potential of another method to conceptualize career boundaries. Employability According to the author Bridgstock (2009), an individual must have employment skills in the fast changing global business context. They must look forward for continuous development by acquiring knowledge and skills with the changing information and knowledge intensive economy. The stress was on developing generic skills that is defined as transferable skills that are considered vital for employability. Further, an individual must possess attributes such as lifelong learning and adaptability. According to Rothwell Arnold (2007), employability has become one of the topmost concerns for the individuals and their key goal is to be able to manage their careers effectively. The authors Wolff Moser (2009) stated that networking has a huge impact on career by stressing on six components that considered the impact of internal external networking and building, maintaining and using contacts. According to Janasz Forret (2008), networking helps to develop and maintain relationship with others that opens opportunities for an individual. Managing Career The author Sturges (2008), identified the connection between career self management and managing work life harmony. He construed through the research that an individual may be involved in various career self management behaviors as per the career goal. The author identified one of the behaviors as creating a balance between work and life and people who are only focused towards their career could destruct their work life balance. The author also tried to demonstrate the influence of career stages on career goal and behavior of an individual to construe that career attitude and behavior has a great impact on work life balance and is the major concern of younger members irrespective of their family responsibilities. The authors Weng McElroy (2010), studied the impact of career self management and vocational self concept crystallization on the effectiveness of an individuals decision. The study revealed that career self management has a positive impact on effectiveness of job decision and vocational self concept crystallization. The study also revealed that vocational self concept crystallization has positive impact on effectiveness of job decision. The authors Abele Wiese (2007), analyzed the self management strategies including development of goals, goal pursuing behavior, career planning and comparative judgment. The authors claimed that general strategy is connected to domain specific strategy, which can be further linked to the results. Discussion and Analysis Dave has been offered three job opportunities and all the three of them have some pros and cons associated with them due to which Dave is facing pressure of selecting the best job opportunity that offers a bright future. Job A is the best job prospect for Dave and in order to understand it the report would discuss the pros and cons of all the three jobs. Job B has been offered by one of the oil exploration company in Houston and require Dave to invest an amount of 100k dollars that is one third of the total equity. Dave would receive around 60, 000 dollars as an annual compensation. The deal does not have any attractiveness as the business would cease to exist after two years period. Further, Dave would also lose the opportunity to operate in partnership in case the oil and gas glut dries up before they launch the company. All he would be getting is just 8% commission for his performance. If Dave wishes to make an intelligent career choice, he would never chose this option as there is not future and security in the job in terms of salary and security. Further, Dave would also have to make an initial investment of 100k $ that could just go in vain if he loses the equity partnership. Job C is the most convenient job for Mr Dave and is also the top choice of his wife. The job offers Dave a secure future with 45k dollars salary. Dave would be required to work for oil and gas investment fund in the firm and would be analyzing the properties of oil and gas. The job is a perfect combination of security and salary for an individual. Now analyzing the job from the theory of intelligent career would suggest that Dave must evaluate alternatives before choosing the option. Dave has already received the offer of more than 50k dollars from other two companies due to which the attractiveness of the offer goes away. Dave has graduated from Harvard Business School and thus, has the caliber to acquire a job with higher salary. This job may offer him security but does not offer a good salary. The career intelligence theory stated that one must have a better understanding of oneself before making a career choice (Arthur, Khapova Richardson, 2017). Further, one must also match the quality of organization and an individual before selecting the organization (Inkson Arthur, 2001). From the two theories, it can be construed that Daves skills and the organizational skills do not match effectively since Dave is very ambitious and seek to groom himself through continuous learning process. The organization does not offer him a justified position and underestimates his talent and potential strength. Thus, Dave must not go for this job opportunity. Job A is being offered by Mr Thorne that would require a huge investment from Dave. Thorne has offered Dave an offer to work with him for piggyback rail terminal that is situated between Dallas and Houston. The project is being studied by a group of business school students to evaluate the feasibility. The offer seems attractive as it is likely to attract business from Dallas and Houston. The cost of land on which the project would be built is 1/100 the cost of industrial property located in Dallas or Houston. The job offer seems lucrative if considered from the salary and future perspective. Dave would receive around 50k-70k salary along with bonus and equity share in the business. Dave must make an intelligent career choice here by applying all his knowledge and evaluating the external factors. He must also analyze the situation from an alternative perspective. He must consider that he would also be required to invest a huge amount of 200k to 300k dollars for which he would have pu t up his entire savings in the project. He would also have to make many adjustments in his lifestyle and his wife would also have to bear it. Further, the business may or may not be able to generate results in future that could devastate the entire career of Dave. Now from self career management theory, it can be construed that Dave must consider from the aspect of work life balance (Sturges, 2008). The job may cost Dave and his wife a huge fortune in future and thus, he must consider the opinion of his wife as well in order to secure their future. In spite of several cons, this is the most lucrative offer for Dave because of its unique idea and low cost strategy plan. From the given information and present scenario, the plan also promises to yield great results in future. Also his wife is also looking forward for him to be happy and according to the theory of career self management, the quality of an individual and organization must match that can be witnessed in this case. Dave ha s huge potential to build a great business empire through his determination and ambitious nature. Thus, using the theory of career self management, it can be construed that Dave must go for Job A to work with Mr Thorne where he can utilize his potential strength and become a successful businessman. Conclusion The report has successfully analyzed and discussed self career management through the case study of Dave. Career self management has become an integral component for a professional. A professional must assess his strengths and weaknesses in order to develop a specific career path for him and must analyze the external factors before making any career choice. They must look forward for continuous development by acquiring knowledge and skills with the changing information and knowledge intensive economy. The stress was on developing generic skills that is defined as transferable skills that are considered vital for employability. After thorough and deep investigation of the case study, the report evaluated Job A as the best alternative for Dave. Job B did not have any future in terms of business as the business was likely to disappear. The job also did not have any partnership promise in future as it was likely to go if oil and gas glut dries. Further, job did not match with the skills of Dave who is ambitious and determined for his career. Job C was evaluated as the most convenient job that also did not match up with the skills of Dave. Dave is most likely to get frustrated with the job after sometime because of his ambitious nature. Further job also did not offer a good pay to Dave. Job A was evaluated to be risky and required a huge amount of investment but is the most feasible and lucrative job for Dave as it matches with the skill sets of Dave. References Abele, A.E., Wiese, B.S. (2007). The Nomological Network of Self-Management Strategies and Career Success. 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