Career management

In Japan, several laws regarding work style reform has been steadily changing Japanese traditional way of employment in recent years.

In response to this trend, the idea of career management is becoming widespread in recent years, regardless of size of companies in Japan.

In reality, an increasing number of companies are taking concrete measures to support their careers, such as conducting career design training for employees and assigning career counselors within the company.

However, some companies are taking these measures in a coping manner, while others are incorporating them into their personnel goals from a long-term perspective.

How much impact does such career management have on management, organizations, and people?

What is a carrier?

Although career management has spread to Japanese companies and working people, the current situation is that their original purpose, the underlying social background, and human career development are not fully understood.

What does a career mean in the first place?

Actually, in Japan, the word "career" seems to be recognized differently by each company and person.

In typical career theories that have been studied from the 1970s to the present day, careers are external careers that can be represented by objective names such as job titles and functions, and internals such as the stages and issues that individuals subjectively experience. (Shein, E.H.1978)

In addition, career is not limited to one role such as work, but there is a concept of life career that it is a combination of various roles in life like a rainbow, such as home, school, community (Super, D.E.1980)

Importance of career management

-How does career management affect companies, organizations, and people?

In the first place, the background of career management dates back to the latter half of the 20th century. For a long time, technological innovation on a global scale has changed the working style, and in Japan, there has been a dramatic change in the employment situation due to the declining birthrate and aging population and the rapid recession caused by the booming economy.

In order to continue business and continue to develop even in such an external environment, the internal environment of the organization must be prepared to adapt to changes. On the other hand, the conventional general way of thinking of a company has been unilateral human resource planning and education and training on the premise of expanding the results of the organization.

However, in the present age when the lifetime employment system has collapsed and employment forms have diversified at a stretch, it is difficult for companies to guarantee their employees financial stability in the future. In that case, individuals will not only form a career that meets their organizational goals, but will also be willing to improve employability that can be used by other companies and to select employment opportunities that suit their own values and employment consciousness.

In order to continue to achieve organizational results in such an economic environment and labor market, companies need to maintain an optimal human resources composition by stably securing human resources, which are management resources. Therefore, it is necessary for companies to manage human resources such as human resource development, recruitment, and evaluation on the premise of career development in which employees select and manage themselves.

On the other hand, individuals are responsible for their own lives and are responsible for forming a career that is autonomous and adaptable to change.

This relationship between companies and people seems to have conflicting interests, but it is not impossible for them to coexist and co-prosper and create a happy relationship, and it makes sense. This is exactly what career management should be today.

For organizations, efforts to increase employee productivity can produce results, and for individuals, the work they engage in leads to self-growth and self-realization. The goal of career management is to harmonize the two. Sooner or later, the HR strategy will steadily turn to success.

Career management support

Understanding issues