Staying in career: An Interactive Approach to Career Management and Strategic Organizational Performance

Abstract

Career management is a challenge to both individuals and organizations. While employees
embark on their jobs to satisfy their various needs and attain professional fulfillment,
organizations engage in corporate survival strategies designed to ensure that organizational
objectives are acted out and delivered to acceptable standards. Ultimately, the cost of
voluntary turnover on both employees and organizations and the contemporary career
paradigm demand adequate planning and management to ensure sustainable career well-being
for the individuals and increased corporate strategic performance. Proper career management
process otherwise called staying in career aims at achieving perfect integration of employees
into organizational system and the attainment of both professional fulfillment and increased
organizational viability. The methodology is qualitative and descriptive approach. This paper
studied career management drawing from both person and corporate perspectives. The study
focused on the Nelson & Quick’s four career stages model through which employment career
can be managed successively. It emphasizes the adoption of realistic job preview’s (RJP)
mentoring and career anchors in career management as both integrative and motivational
forces that guide career decisions in a turbulence employment context. It provides
constructive knowledge for embracing and maintaining career as well as enhancing strategic
organizational performance. The study recommends among others that organizations should
adequately ensure the alignment of both employee needs and organizational objectives in
career management.